Gay men in Vancouver are twice as likely as straight men to be victims of violent crime, suggests a study conducted at the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS.

The nine-year study surveyed more than 500 homosexual men to document the rate of physical assaults in Greater Vancouver.

Lead author Dr. Thomas Lampinen concluded that 2.3 per cent of gay men reported being assaulted each year, roughly double the overall violent crime rate in B.C.

But for Lampinen the most surprising finding was the number of assaults against certain groups of men.

"The highest incidents of new assaults were among youngest men, under the age of 24, and aboriginal men," said Lampinen.

Eight per cent of gay aboriginal men reported assaults, along with five per cent of gay men under the age of 24, said Lampinen.

The younger a person is when they come out, the greater the chance they will be attacked, said Lampinen.

Lampinen argued the study highlights the importance of tolerance initiatives, especially in schools.

"In schoolyards all across the country, if ethnic and racial slurs were being uttered at this rate, it would be tolerated for about a New York minute. And yet somehow it seems OK for kids to be saying daily, 'Oh, that's so gay,' or calling people 'faggot.'"

The report will be published in the June issue of the American Journal of Public Health.