Gay Community Too Scared To Seek Help From Police In Queensland There is a long history of mistrust between police and the LGBTI people. Despite police liaison officers who specialise in gay issues, the majority of Queensland's LGBTI community still avoid contacting police even if they are victims of crime. A new study, launched by researchers at the Queensland University of Technology, Griffith University and University of Sydney, aims to find out why. overcoming a lifetime of prejudice is still a huge barrier to overcome Lead researcher Dr Angela Dwyer, from QUT's School of Justice, said findings from a Queensland report issued in 2010 showed while 52 per cent of the gay community knew about the liaison officers, only 4 per cent accessed the support. However 53 per cent of the community reported being victimised. Dr Dwyer said such statistics, coupled with her own research into LGBTI justice issues, lead her to want to explore the gap and its causes. She said the problem was intergenerational and driven by a history of violence perpetrated against the gay community especially during Queensland's conservative Joh Bjelke-Petersen era. "There is a long history of mistrust between police and the LGBTI people and that's mainly because of the criminalisation of anal sex and homosexuality, and violence against the community including from police during the Joh years," Dr Dwyer said. Though things have improved today, we find that older members of the community pass their stories and mistrust onto younger members which continues the cycle. And while the introduction of the liaison officers to police forces across Australia from the late 80s to early 90s symbolised a willingness to change, Dr Dwyer said relations between police and the gay community were far from perfect. "Young people I've spoken with about their experiences of policing report really negative experiences in places like Townsville and Toowoomba," she said. But we find instances of homophobia and discrimination aren't isolated to rural and regional Queensland - metropolitan capital cities across Australia have problems too. George*, who did not want to be named, is a young gay man who moved to Brisbane after completing high school in north Queensland. Despite being bullied at school and suffering random acts of verbal abuse related to his sexuality, he said he would not consider reporting these incidents to police. He said anti-gay sentiment was less pronounced in the capital, but still present enough that it felt "easier to ignore the problem." "I think you learn when you're younger that you're on the outer, and that the institutions that should protect you aren't necessarily there to protect 'your kind'," he said. That's changing now, and I think that the community is recognising that they're hurting themselves by not coming forward, but overcoming a lifetime of prejudice is still a huge barrier to overcome. Dr Dwyer said there were also operational problems contributing to the apparent avoidance of police by the gay community. "The London Metropolitan Police, for example, have LGBTI liaison officers at beats across the city, but no one number for people call if they need support and assistance," she said. There could be some very simple explanations for this gap, and we hope this research will help find them. To take part, go to the survey link on a Facebook or contact Dr Dwyer on 07 3138 7104. It takes about 15 minutes to complete and the Facebook link leads to an anonymous survey site. A separate opt-in site will collect participants' contact details (first name, email address, telephone number) if they want either to take part in an interview and/or to go into the draw to win an iPod. A secure QUT website is used for this so that contact details are not linked to survey answers.