A friend of mine was pelted with eggs while marching at an event during Pride Month in Berlin last July. When I expressed my concern, he was quick to dismiss the incident. “It wasn’t a big deal, and the police wouldn’t have done anything anyway,” he told me. Official figures show that verbal and physical attacks against LGBTQ individuals are rising in Germany. And up to 90% of them could be unreported, according to Germany’s Lesbian and Gay Association (LSVD). And that’s not the only worrying trend. “The public discourse is worsening,” says LSVD spokesperson Kerstin Thost, who uses non-binary pronouns.