Numerous incidents of gay bashing and other violent crimes against LGBTQI people occur across Australia, with dating and other social networking apps used to lure users to a beating.
A Victorian parliamentary inquiry into anti-LGBTQI hate crimes, chaired by Liberal MP Joe McCracken, heard evidence on the issue in Melbourne on Thursday.
Justin Ellis, a criminology lecturer at Newcastle University, told the inquiry those who perpetrated the hate crimes were often motivated by a nostalgia for a sexual uniformity that never really existed.
"We know that queer people have always existed."
Hate crimes and threats against LGBTQI people were driving some young people back to the closet out of fear, Dr Ellis said.
"Young queer adults are self-censoring. They are deciding they have to take more precautions than they typically would to protect their personal safety and that could be online or in person."
A collective approach was needed to address the issue, including better moderation of online platforms including better reporting from dating apps, Dr Ellis said.
RMIT criminology lecturer Jarryd Bartle told the inquiry some misuse of dating apps to lure victims was opportunistic to demand or extort money, with threats of exposing identities.
But other attacks were blatantly homophobic, including "bait and bash attacks" in which groups of young men lure gay or bisexual men to a location and assault them.
Many attacks caused injuries requiring hospitalisation.
"Victims were subject to homophobic abuse while being beaten and in some cases robbed," Mr Bartle said.
Some attacks were filmed and circulated within peer networks, with threats of outing victims.
"These offences were clearly motivated by cruelty and a belief that gay and bisexual men are easy or morally permissible targets for violence, humiliation and blackmail,." Mr Bartle said.
Thrillseeking could be a motivator in the attacks which could be couched as "vigilante justice", with abusers posing online as underage then luring men to a beating, accusing them of being pedophiles, he said.
Officials of Grindr, the world's largest social networking app for gay, bi, trans, and queer people, told the inquiry the app was working with Australian police to prevent hate crimes.
Joe Hack, Grindr's head of global government affairs, said the app's highest priority was user safety and wellbeing.
"Like any online platform, there are instances where bad actors attempt to misuse our features, potentially putting users at risk," Mr Hack told the committee from Washington DC.
"Perpetrators using our platform to identify, target, and harm the very community we exist to serve represents a direct assault on everything we stand for."
Grindr worked with Australian police to minimise harm to its users and continuously invested in better tools and detection, along with deeper community partnerships, to improve responses to abuse, he said.
Pop-up safety messages were one tool Grindr used in Victoria, warning users of violence risks and providing safety guidance, Mr Hack said.
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