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DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Love is Respect
Domestic Violence is an LGBTQ Issue
Sexual Assault and the LGBTQ Community
Cost of Living Crisis Forcing More LGBTQ Abuse Victims
to Stay With Abusers
Violence Against Women Act Expands
Services to LGBTQ Survivors
Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Youth Raped and
Abused by Dates More Often
Domestic Violence in Same Sex Relationships
Myths About LGBTQ Domestic Violence
Intimate Partner Violence
National Coalition of Anti-Violence
Program
Washington Post: Violence and Abuse in LGBTQ
Relationships is Common
Trans Men and
Domestic Abuse
Love is Respect: Healthy LGBTQ Relationships
Broken: Song by Kim Petras

Same Sex
Violence and Abuse
Domestic violence in the LGBTQ community
is a serious issue. The rates of domestic violence in
same-gender relationships is roughly the same as
domestic violence against heterosexual women. As in
opposite-gendered couples, the problem is likely
underreported. Facing a system which is often oppressive
and hostile towards those who identify as anything other
than "straight", those involved in same-gender battering
frequently report being afraid of revealing their sexual
orientation or the nature of their relationship.
Additionally, even those who attempt to
report violence in their alterative relationship run
into obstacles. Police officers, prosecutors, judges and
others to whom a LGBTQ victim may turn to for help may
have difficulty in providing the same level of service
as to a heterosexual victim. Not only might personal
attitudes towards the LGBTQ community come into play,
but these providers may have inadequate levels of
experience and training to work with LGBTQ victims and
flimsy or non-existent laws to enforce on behalf of the
victim.


Although much advancement has been made
in the provision of services, the enforcement of the
law, and the equality of protections available to those
in LGBTQ relationships over the last decade, it is
important for you to be aware of your rights and options
as they relate to your attempt to escape an abusive
relationship.
Domestic violence, or intimate partner
violence (IPV), is a pattern of coercive behaviors that
includes one or more of the following: physical abuse or
the threat of physical abuse, psychological abuse, rape,
sexual assault, progressive social isolation,
deprivation, intimidation, and/or economic coercion.
Domestic violence or IPV is perpetrated against current
or former intimate partners with whom the perpetrator
dated, engaged in a chiefly sexual relationship, married
or cohabited.

Adults and adolescents can perpetrate
IPV or be survivors of IPV. Abuse can include physical,
emotional, sexual, or economic abuse, as well as
threats, intimidation, and isolation. For LGBTQ people
in relationships, an abusing partner may also use the
weapons of heterosexism and homophobia and threaten to
“out” an abused partner in situation where the abused is
not out. IPV happens in every part of our community, to
people of every race, ethnicity, class, age, ability or
disability, education level, and religion.
Sexual Assault and the LGBTQ Community
National Intimate Partner & Sexual Violence Survey
Half of Gay Men Have Been Abused by Their Partners
Rainbow Domestic Violence
Trans Men and
Domestic Abuse
Rise in Dating Violence in LGBTQ Youth
Legal Rights of LGBTQ Victims of Domestic
Violence
Rainbow Response
Domestic Violence in Same Sex Relationships
Myths About LGBTQ Domestic Violence
Broken: Song by Kim Petras
National Coalition of Anti-Violence
Program

Violence Against
Women Act Expands Services to LGBTQ Survivors
“No one, regardless of gender or sexual orientation,
should experience abuse. Period. And if they do, they
should have the service and support to get through it,
and we’re not going to rest.”
-President
Joe Biden
The Violence Against Women Act, reauthorized in the
spending bill signed into law by President Joe Biden,
now for the first time includes a grant program designed
to aid LGBTQ survivors of domestic violence and sexual
assault.
The act has for some years has barred service providers
from discriminating based on sex, sexual orientation,
and gender identity, but the reauthorized version does
much more, activists note. “This Act creates the first
grant program dedicated to expanding and developing
initiatives specifically for LGBTQ domestic violence and
sexual assault survivors,” said a statement from Liz
Seaton, the National LGBTQ Task Force’s policy director.
“Our sister organization, the National LGBTQ Task Force
Action Fund, participated in a working group on bill
language and advocated for its passage.”

“This legislation has the strongest-ever provisions to
benefit LGBTQ survivors,” added Beverly Tillery,
executive director of the New York City Anti-Violence
Project, which coordinates the National Coalition of
Anti-Violence Programs. “While the LGBTQ community
continues to experience a barrage of anti-trans and
anti-LGBTQ attacks across the nation, VAWA provides a
brief moment of hope that we can and will continue to
make important advancements for our community. This
victory is the result of a strong coalition of advocates
who have been willing to fight with and for the most
marginalized communities in our country.”
At an event celebrating the VAWA reuauthorization, Biden
noted, “No one, regardless of gender or sexual
orientation, should experience abuse. Period. And if
they do, they should have the service and support to get
through it, and we’re not going to rest.”
VAWA was first passed in 1994. Biden helped write it
when he was a US Senator. It requires reauthorization
every five years, but it lapsed in 2019, largely due to
partisan disputes over whether to include a provision
banning gun ownership by dating partners and stalkers
who have been convicted of domestic violence. The
current law bans this for those who have been spouses of
victims, and Democrats agreed to drop the expansion of
the ban in order to get the reauthorization passed.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin said it was a “tough
choice” to drop that, but the level of support needed
was simply not there.
[Source: Trudy Ring, Advocate, March 2022]
Violence Against Women Act Expands
Services to LGBTQ Survivors
Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Youth Raped and
Abused by Dates More Often
Domestic Violence in Same Sex Relationships
Myths About LGBTQ Domestic Violence
Sexual Assault and the LGBTQ Community
National Intimate Partner & Sexual Violence Survey
Intimate Partner Violence
National Coalition of Anti-Violence
Program
Washington Post: Violence and Abuse in LGBTQ
Relationships is Common
Trans Men and
Domestic Abuse
Love is Respect: Healthy LGBTQ Relationships
Broken: Song by Kim Petras
Violent, Abusive, Coercive Behaviors
Physical Abuse - Hitting, choking,
slapping, burning, shoving, hitting with objects, using
a weapon, restraining.
Restricting Freedom - Controlling whom
you can see, what groups or organizations you can be in,
what you can read or know about, what movies you can
see, where you can go.
Emotional Abuse - Criticizing you,
humiliating you, lying to you, neglecting you, causing
you to feel degraded.
Threats and intimidation - Threatening to
harm children, family, friends or pets. Threatening to
report your sexual identity, HIV or citizenship status
to the authorities or others.
Economic Abuse - Taking control of your
money or stealing it, running up debts, making you
dependent against your will.
Sexual Abuse - Rape, forcing sex or
certain sex acts, forcing sex with others, assaulting
parts of your body, withholding sex, criticizing sexual
performance, refusing safer sex, disrespecting “safe
words” or violating boundaries of a “scene.”
Destruction of Property - Damaging
personal object or clothing, overturning or breaking
furniture, vandalizing the home, throwing or smashing
things, destroying clothes.
Medical Abuse (esp.
HIV-Related) - Getting in the way of
medical treatment, withholding medications, destroying
important documents, threatening to reveal HIV status to
friends, family, employers, immigration or governmental
authorities.
Heterosexist Control - Threatening to
“out” you to others in situations where you have chosen
not to come out or feel it is unsafe to do so.
Love is Respect
Domestic Violence is an LGBTQ Issue
Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Youth Raped and
Abused by Dates More Often
Rainbow Domestic Violence
Rise in Dating Violence in LGBTQ Youth
Intimate Partner Violence
Trans Men and
Domestic Abuse
Broken: Song by Kim Petras
Sexual Assault and the LGBTQ Community
National Intimate Partner & Sexual Violence Survey
Legal Rights of LGBTQ Victims of Domestic
Violence
Williams Institute:
Intimate Partner Violence Among LGBTQ People
Domestic Violence Statistics
According to the ABA Commission on
Domestic Violence, domestic violence occurs within
same-sex relationships as it does in heterosexual
relationships. The acronym LGBTQ is often used and
stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.
11% of lesbians reported violence by
their female partner and 15% of gay men who had lived
with a male partner reported being victimized by a male
partner.
Of the LGBTQ victims who sought services
from the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence
Project, 36% of clients in 2003 and 38% of clients in
2004 filed police reports regarding intimate partner
violence.
Eighty-eight percent of victims in 2003
and 91 percent of victims in 2004 reported experiencing
prior incidents of abuse, with the majority (45 percent
and 47 percent, respectively) reporting having
experienced more than 10 prior incidents.

One survey found that same-sex
cohabitants reported significantly more intimate partner
violence than did opposite-sex cohabitants. Among women,
39.2% of the same-sex cohabitants and 21.7 of the
opposite- sex cohabitants reported being raped,
physically assaulted, and/or stalked by a
marital/cohabiting partner at some time in their
lifetime.
15.4% of same-sex cohabiting men reported
being raped, physically assaulted and/or stalked by a
male partner, but 10.8% reported such violence by a
female partner.
Domestic Violence Statistics: Horrific Reality
Sexual Assault and the LGBTQ Community
National Intimate Partner & Sexual Violence Survey
Intimate Partner Violence
Domestic Violence: Resource Guide
National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
NCADV: Abusive LGBTQ Relationships
Domestic Violence Facts and Statistics
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