On June 9, 2026, Germany's national police agency — the Bundeskriminalamt, or BKA — released its 2025 numbers on hate crimes motivated by politics. They showed a new all-time high in attacks targeting LGBTQ+ people (LSVD). A hate crime is an offense committed against someone because of who they are — their sexual orientation, gender identity, race, religion, or similar characteristics.

The national figures follow a years-long rise. Berlin's state police had already reported 212 victims of anti-LGBTQ+ violence in data released February 22, 2025, up from 197 in 2022 (LSVD).

The numbers come alongside a series of targeted attacks in the capital. In May 2026, Maneo — a Berlin project that has long helped LGBTQ+ people affected by violence — was itself attacked in what appeared to be an anti-LGBTQ+ incident. It was the second such attack on a Monday to draw public attention to how support organizations themselves are vulnerable (queer.de). Deutsche Welle also reported on an attack targeting Berlin's Christopher Street Day parade, the city's biggest annual LGBTQ+ celebration, under the headline "Christopher Street Day attack in Berlin: What we know so far" (Deutsche Welle).

Police have not only been reacting to attacks. On May 6, 2026, authorities raided far-right youth groups whose members, according to Deutsche Welle, mainly target the LGBTQ+ community, people perceived as immigrants, and young people thought to hold leftist views (Deutsche Welle). The raids suggest police are tracking organized groups, not just individual attackers acting on impulse.

However, the federal government's policy response is still incomplete. A report from the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI) on steps taken to fight anti-LGBTQ+ hate crime was due in autumn 2025 but could not be delivered, according to the LSVD (LSVD). That report was tied to a resolution passed by Germany's parliament — the Bundestag — called "Frei und sicher leben: Queerfeindliche Hasskriminalität entschieden bekämpfen," which translates to "Living free and safe: decisively combating anti-LGBTQ+ hate crime." The resolution was meant to turn political promises into concrete actions. Without the report, no one can confirm whether those actions actually happened.

This gap matters beyond paperwork. In January 2025, the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) published its third large-scale survey on the experiences of LGBTIQ* people across Europe (LSVD). The survey provides a Europe-wide baseline that makes it possible to compare Germany's numbers and policy delays against those of other countries.

The threat goes beyond civilian extremist groups. A study by the Bundeswehr Center for Military History and Social Sciences found that fewer than 1% of German soldiers hold consistent right-wing extremist views (Deutsche Welle). That number may sound small, but it exists alongside the raids on far-right youth groups that specifically targeted LGBTQ+ people. Together, these findings suggest that even a small number of extremists can cause real harm.

Berlin has long been a center of LGBTQ+ life in Germany and beyond. Its institutions, from Maneo in the Schöneberg neighborhood to the CSD parade, have become symbols of both community strength and the violence directed at that community. The rise from 197 victims in 2022 to 212 in Berlin alone, set against a new national record, puts the capital at a crossroads of visibility and risk.

The broader context here is one of delay. Parliament has passed resolutions, the EU has collected survey data, and the BKA has published statistics — all showing that the problem is real and getting worse. What no one can yet measure is whether the federal government's plan to respond can keep up with a threat that, by the BKA's own numbers, is still growing. The missing BMI report did not cause the rise in attacks. But without it, lawmakers, civil society groups, and police lack the tool they were supposed to use to check whether the government's response matches the scale of the problem.