We see a lot of intimate partner violence as is, but have you ever stopped to think about the LQBT community and it’s relationship with intimate partner violence? Looking into surveys, we can see that bisexual women are “1.8 times more likely to report ever having experienced IPV than heterosexual women”. This is just one study, and many more have shown that bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender people have reported more cases of intimate partner violence than heterosexual women or men.
After reading various articles, I have concluded that the LGBT community may face more instances of intimate partner violence due to the inadequate services and assistance to escape these situations. Since these lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people do not have adequate care or services to go to, people are more likely to use/abuse people who identify as bisexual, gay, lesbian, or transgender.
The LGBT community faces many obstacles when it comes to reporting cases or receiving help. Many people in the community fear being “outed”, or that their family/friends will disown them for being LGBT in the first place, regardless of the mental/physical abuse that is taking place. The legal system excludes many instances of same-sex violence, making it even harder to go through the process of reporting intimate partner violence in a LGBT case because of “legal definitions”.
Many people a part of the LGBT community do not know about adequate resources to go to in the instance that intimate partner violence does occur. Many people may also fear going to the so called “safe places” due to homophobic staff and/service providers. However, there are services provided to cater to the LGBT community, in order to allow them to feel comfortable with their identity and reporting the case. One resource I have found is “The Network / La Red Hotline”, which is “a survivor led social justice organization that works to end partner abuse in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, SM, polyamorous, and queer communities”. In order to end abuse and IPV in the LGBT community, we must build more resources and services that treat the LGBT community fairly and provide help in any way possible. No matter somebody’s sexual orientation, nobody deserves to face abuse in any relationship they are in.
thisisloyal.com, Loyal. “Intimate Partner Violence And Sexual Abuse Among LGBT People”. Williams Institute, 2021, https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/ipv-sex-abuse-lgbt-people/.
“Resources For LGBTQ Relationships | Women Against Abuse”. Women Against Abuse, 2021, https://www.womenagainstabuse.org/get-help/resources/resources-for-lgbtq-relationships.