but me being a woman, and a lesbian, I doubt the police would give a shit anyway.
I agree 100%.
From my jaded memory, I always thought that the 'hate' bit was originally supposed to help the lesbian and gay community (and others). So, if someone punched you because you were a dyke (as happened to someone I knew), then recording it as someone got randomly thumped on a Friday night after the pub chucked out was seen as nothing particularly unusual. Unless you also record the fact that the reason they got thumped was because they were coming out of a lesbian bar at the time. Puts the thump into context.
Except now, the supposed intention being inferred, but without any actual crime is the supposed 'hate crime'. But the crime was supposed to be the crime, not the added motivation for the crime. But no surprise that this has now become twisted where the thought not the deed is seen as the problem by the woke.
And if you needed even more confirmation, the fact that plain ole misogyny and sexism is not seen as a hate issue, tells you almost all you need to know. It was always about the menz.......
(Just checked the CAB, and yes, it DOES NOT list sex under hate incidents list, and although later says some forces chose to record other categories (like age), sex and just being plain ole female appears nowhere I can see. Yet all the times I have experienced hate incidents, although homophobia often came in as well, it was always part of it that I was also female. There is a difference between 'f-ing queer' and 'f-ing dyke', can you see what it is children?).