The Brooklyn district attorney’s office is forming a task force aimed at reducing anti-gay violence amid a string of high-profile incidents in the city.
District Attorney Charles Hynes announced Thursday a hotline victims can call to receive support and to report incidents they may be uncomfortable discussing with police.
Thirty social workers are available to help victims cope. Members of the task force can also help provide temporary housing, among other things.
Victims’ information will also be used to prosecute crimes.
The parents of Michael Sandy, a gay man ambushed and chased into traffic during a mugging in 2006, voiced their support for the effort.
There has been a slight increase in reports of anti-gay attacks in New York this year.