As stories of teen gangs hunting down homosexual men grew with police ignoring the issue, community leader Gary Cox started a project to shine a light on gay hate crimes in Sydney in 1988. In little more than a month, a “terrifying picture” had emerged, he told an inquiry on Wednesday. Stories of youth gangs surrounding men and beating them to a pulp, attackers taunting a gay man “we’re out to get you” and lesbians attacked by men with razor blades, were among nearly 30 violent attacks reported to a group Dr Cox co-chaired.