The Extraordinarily Common Violence Against LGBT People in America

[JahFocus CS]

The Extraordinarily Common Violence Against LGBT People in America

The attack on a gay club in Orlando on Sunday is not an isolated crime.

• EMMA GREEN
  
• JUN 12, 2016
  
• POLITICS

The attack at a gay club in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday is the worst mass-shooting in U.S. history. The father of Omar Mateen, the alleged shooter, said his son may have been motivated by anger toward the LGBT community; other reports suggest he may have pledged allegiance to ISIS in advance of the attacks.

No matter what, he picked a gay club. He carried out his attack during Pride month, on a weekend when cities across the country, from Washington, D.C. to Detroit to Los Angeles, are hosting celebrations and parades. This is an unprecedented shooting attack in scale and violence, but not in kind. It is an extraordinary example of an extremely common kind of violence in the United States: hate-motivated attacks on LGBT people.

In a 2011 analysis of FBI hate-crime statistics, the Southern Poverty Law Center found that “LGBT people are more than twice as likely to be the target of a violent hate-crime than Jews or black people,” said Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the center. Because the population of LGBT Americans is relatively small, and the number of hate crimes against that group is significant, LGBT individuals face a higher risk than other groups of being the victim of an attack. “They are more than four times as likely as Muslims, and almost 14 times as likely as Latinos,” Potok added. Sexual orientation motivated roughly 20 percent of hate crimes in 2013, according to the FBI; the only factor that accounted for more was race.

The vast majority of those crimes are not carried out by Muslim extremists, Potok said. “It’s a mix of white supremacists and their ilk and people who would be considered relatively normal members of society,” Potok said. “The majority of attacks on gay people do not come from people who are members of organized hate groups.”

This is not the first time someone has targeted a gay club with violence in the United States. In 2014, for example, Musab Masmari was convicted of setting fire to a Seattle bar on New Year’s Eve. There were 750 people inside, although no one was hurt or killed. While these kinds of large-scale attacks are horrifying, they do not account for most of the violence against LGBT people, which often takes place in people’s homes, on highways and streets, or even in schools.

Discriminatory attitudes toward LGBT people are still common, despite advances in LGBT rights over the past several years. “LGBT people have been vilified for as long as any of us can remember, and vilified in a particularly nasty way,” said Potok. “They’re described as perverts, as people who seduce children, as people who engage in horrible, unnatural practices. There’s all kinds of hatred in this country, but it’s rare to have a group described in such incredibly demeaning terms.”

This kind of attitude is not only held by one particular group, religious or otherwise. In 2014, a majority of Americans said they believed gay sex is morally unacceptable, and 14 percent of Americans said they believed AIDS might be God’s punishment for immoral sexual behavior, according to the Public Religion Research Institute. There is of course no causal relationship between disapproval of homosexuality and mass murder. But anti-LGBT sentiments and rhetoric, which are not uncommon, are part of the broader U.S. social context in whichmore than half of LGBT-identified people say they’re concerned about being the victim of a hate crime.

The Pride movement itself has its origins in this kind of discrimination and violence. The first parades were held 46 years ago in commemoration of the 1969 Stonewall riots, in which LGBT people protested a police raid of a Greenwich Village bar, the Stonewall Inn. At the first gay-pride parade in New York, “There were no floats, no music, no boys in briefs,” wrote Fred Sergeant in a 2010 article for The Village Voice. “The cops turned their backs on us to convey their disdain, but the masses of people kept carrying signs and banners, chanting and waving to surprised onlookers.”

In the years since then, Pride events have spread across the country. Cities celebrate their LGBT citizens with parades and festivals, and gay bars and clubs often hold events like the one at Pulse, the Orlando bar where the shooting took place. They’re often happy, celebratory events—safe spaces for people to express their identities and sexuality—thathave evolved a long way from their origins in solemn protest.

But this year, the spirit of an earlier era, in which LGBT people were even less accepted than they are today, returns. The Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT-rights advocacy group, will march in silence at Sunday’s Pride parade in Los Angeles to mourn the victims of the shootings in Orlando. The moment marks not just Sunday’s violence, but that which is yet to come. In the 10-year period between 2004 and 2014, the share of hate crimes based on sexual orientation increased. Perhaps that trend will not continue. But Potok wasn’t confident.

“I very much dread what is coming next,” he said.

 

[thekingsmen]

Domestic Violence in LGBT Communities
03/15/2013 04:13 pm ET | Updated Feb 02, 2016
289

• 
  Pierre R. BerastaínAdvocate and Writer: Gender Based Violence, Restorative Justice

Every time a celebrity suffers from or commits intimidate partner abuse, the media responds by writing op-eds, hosting panels of experts, and making the public aware of resources available to them. As someone who works in the field of domestic violence, I am glad these conversations take place, and I wish they would occur with more frequency. After all, the Center for Disease Controlindicates that 1 of 4 women and 1 in 7 men over the age of 18 experiences severe physical violence in their lifetime. These conversations clearly need to happen.

The public, too, reads more and becomes more informed every time a celebrity tragedy takes place. What we see and hear, though, usually consists of advice to determine whether the man is abusing the woman, and once abuse is determined, conversations turn to how women can escape abusive relationships. But what happens in same-sex or LGBT relationships? In this short piece, I would like to cover how partner abuse manifests itself in the LGBT community, which experiences domestic violence at equal rates—and sometimes higher—than those of the rest of the population (25-33% of the LGBT population experiences domestic violence in its lifetime). True, any person—gay or straight—can be controlling of finances, hit another individual, or constantly make derogatory comments. However, intimate partner abuse in the LGBT population also manifests itself differently, thus presenting specific challenges our community faces when recognizing partner abuse and when trying to access services.

Here, then, are some things to consider:

The threat of outing

“If you do not do x, I will tell your [parents, friends, church, etc.] you are gay.” This is very common. The threat of outing for the LGBT community can be used as a way to control another person. Someone who is closeted might not only feel afraid of stigmatization and rejection from his or her family or social group, but also face serious repercussions from experiencing a forced outing. In twenty-nine states, employers can fire someone who is gay, and in thirty-four states, an employee can be fired simply for being transgender. LGBT youth are also more likely to become homeless than their heterosexual peers. In addition, LGBT homeless youth commit suicide at higher rates than heterosexual homeless youth (62% versus 29%).

Gender-based insults

Consider the following insults:
• You are not gay enough
• You are too gay
• You say you’re bisexual because you just want to sleep around
• You are too butch to be a real woman
• Real women do not wear cargo shorts

These are some insults that heterosexual victims do not, or are less likely, to experience. Putting someone down is a classic form of abuse because through insults, a person erodes someone else’s self esteem. However, the type of insults abusers use can vary according to race, gender, and culture.

Identity Theft

It is difficult for a man to use his girlfriend’s driver’s license or personal information to commit identity theft. However, that likelihood rises significantly in a same-sex relationship. Consider this: a gay man gets pulled over for speeding. He presents his boyfriend’s driver’s license and the police officer gives him a ticket. Now the wrong person has a ticket in his driving record. Now imagine the legal trouble a person faces if his identification were used at a time of an arrest for, say, drug possession.

Withholding or selling medication

Any person can withhold or sell his/her partner’s medication, but in the LGBT community, this can have serious implications not just for the person’s health. If a person is transitioning (male to female or vice-versa), he or she has to take a series of hormonal replacement therapies in the process. Being deprived access to those hormones not only means the person will not be able to transition, but also that he or she may face an increased probability of discrimination and harassment at work and the larger social environment.

Think of the children

A person might have raised her or his child for ten years but not be the biological parent. In many states, this parent would have no legal protections and no legal claim to the child. An abuser may threaten to take away the children. If the non-biological parent tries to escape the abusive relationship with the children, then that person can face serious criminal charges such as kidnapping. In addition, many social workers and courts remain hostile towards LGBT people. The implication?





[O]uting could place the biological parent’s custody at risk, given the history of case law wherein lesbians have lost their children to dysfunctional ex-husbands who have substance abuse problems or even murder convictions, simply on the grounds that the children “should be afforded the opportunity to grow up in a non-lesbian household”
Source: http://www.rohrbaughassociates.net/pdfs/same_sex.pdf





Aside from experiencing other forms of abuse, LGBT victims of domestic violence have a much more difficult time accessing services. Here are some reason:

Lack of screening

Traditionally, service providers have done little to no screening to distinguish between abuser and victim. When a woman calls a shelter or the police, it is automatically assumed the male is abusing her. However, this model fails when one deals with same-sex couples. There have been cases of same-sex domestic violence in which the couple was arrested, placed in the police car, and even locked in the same cell, only to be released the next day. In addition, when service providers do not screen, they are likely to offer services to the abuser, further alienating and stigmatizing the victim.

Lack of resources

Most domestic violence shelters are women-only shelters and operate under a heterosexual model (in support groups, for example, facilitators will talk about male privilege, what it means to be a woman in relation to me, and how to prevent future male partners from abusing them). This means that many LGBT victims of domestic violence do not seek help or shelter.

LGBT-phobia

Renewal House, where I work, has provided services to transgender clients who were refused services at other shelters. Some social workers have asked transgender clients the hurtful question of, “What is between your legs?” before allowing them to access services, and many transgender survivors even report experiencing abuse in shelters. Homo-, bi-, and trans-phobia can also play a role in court proceedings. Judges can say things like:

• You boys need to just work it out.
• Why are girls always getting in these fights?

LGBT-phobia might also affect survivors’ obtaining custody of their children. After hearing a divorce case between a heterosexual man and a recently out lesbian woman, a judge might feel that the child’s best interest would be to grow up with the heterosexual abusive father, away from the influence of the homosexual ‘lifestyle.’ In addition, LGBT survivors might not feel comfortable in mainstream domestic violence support groups. Finally, while LGBT people experience domestic violence in rates equal to that of the general population, almost half of LGBT survivors cannot access shelter safety and a fourth are mistakenly arrested as the aggressor by law enforcement. Over 55 percent of LGBT survivors are denied orders of protection.

Smaller community and closeted individuals

Given the small size of LGBT communities as compared to the general population, survivors and abusers are likely to know the same people, resources, and support groups. For example, it is likely that a survivor may access a support group that does not screen for abuse only to be joined by his or her abuser a few weeks later. In addition, LGBT survivors who are closeted might not have friends, family members, faith communities, or other social circles to seek help should the person experience abuse. The degree of isolation when one is in the closer increases drastically.

Lack of awareness

“Does domestic violence really occur in the LGBT community?!” I have heard the surprise behind this question too many times for me to remember. Many people believe LGBT couples cannot experience intimate partner abuse. Why would they abuse each other if they already have to go through so much to be together? They already have to live in an oppressive system. If LGBT couples are together, it must be out of true love, and they cannot possibly abuse each other. So does the logic go. As mentioned earlier, the LGBT community experiences as much, if sometimes not more, domestic violence than the rest of the population. Unfortunately, it is the misconception that intimate partner abuse only affects (straight) women that partly accounts for a lack of resources (informational material and shelters, for example) as well as a lack of broader and more inclusive conversations about intimate partner abuse.

 

[thekingsmen]

delete

 

[thekingsmen]

Domestic Violence in LGBT Communities
03/15/2013 04:13 pm ET | Updated Feb 02, 2016
289

• 
  Pierre R. BerastaínAdvocate and Writer: Gender Based Violence, Restorative Justice

Every time a celebrity suffers from or commits intimidate partner abuse, the media responds by writing op-eds, hosting panels of experts, and making the public aware of resources available to them. As someone who works in the field of domestic violence, I am glad these conversations take place, and I wish they would occur with more frequency. After all, the Center for Disease Controlindicates that 1 of 4 women and 1 in 7 men over the age of 18 experiences severe physical violence in their lifetime. These conversations clearly need to happen.

The public, too, reads more and becomes more informed every time a celebrity tragedy takes place. What we see and hear, though, usually consists of advice to determine whether the man is abusing the woman, and once abuse is determined, conversations turn to how women can escape abusive relationships. But what happens in same-sex or LGBT relationships? In this short piece, I would like to cover how partner abuse manifests itself in the LGBT community, which experiences domestic violence at equal rates—and sometimes higher—than those of the rest of the population (25-33% of the LGBT population experiences domestic violence in its lifetime). True, any person—gay or straight—can be controlling of finances, hit another individual, or constantly make derogatory comments. However, intimate partner abuse in the LGBT population also manifests itself differently, thus presenting specific challenges our community faces when recognizing partner abuse and when trying to access services.

Here, then, are some things to consider:

The threat of outing

“If you do not do x, I will tell your [parents, friends, church, etc.] you are gay.” This is very common. The threat of outing for the LGBT community can be used as a way to control another person. Someone who is closeted might not only feel afraid of stigmatization and rejection from his or her family or social group, but also face serious repercussions from experiencing a forced outing. In twenty-nine states, employers can fire someone who is gay, and in thirty-four states, an employee can be fired simply for being transgender. LGBT youth are also more likely to become homeless than their heterosexual peers. In addition, LGBT homeless youth commit suicide at higher rates than heterosexual homeless youth (62% versus 29%).

Gender-based insults

Consider the following insults:
• You are not gay enough
• You are too gay
• You say you’re bisexual because you just want to sleep around
• You are too butch to be a real woman
• Real women do not wear cargo shorts

These are some insults that heterosexual victims do not, or are less likely, to experience. Putting someone down is a classic form of abuse because through insults, a person erodes someone else’s self esteem. However, the type of insults abusers use can vary according to race, gender, and culture.

Identity Theft

It is difficult for a man to use his girlfriend’s driver’s license or personal information to commit identity theft. However, that likelihood rises significantly in a same-sex relationship. Consider this: a gay man gets pulled over for speeding. He presents his boyfriend’s driver’s license and the police officer gives him a ticket. Now the wrong person has a ticket in his driving record. Now imagine the legal trouble a person faces if his identification were used at a time of an arrest for, say, drug possession.

Withholding or selling medication

Any person can withhold or sell his/her partner’s medication, but in the LGBT community, this can have serious implications not just for the person’s health. If a person is transitioning (male to female or vice-versa), he or she has to take a series of hormonal replacement therapies in the process. Being deprived access to those hormones not only means the person will not be able to transition, but also that he or she may face an increased probability of discrimination and harassment at work and the larger social environment.

Think of the children

A person might have raised her or his child for ten years but not be the biological parent. In many states, this parent would have no legal protections and no legal claim to the child. An abuser may threaten to take away the children. If the non-biological parent tries to escape the abusive relationship with the children, then that person can face serious criminal charges such as kidnapping. In addition, many social workers and courts remain hostile towards LGBT people. The implication?





[O]uting could place the biological parent’s custody at risk, given the history of case law wherein lesbians have lost their children to dysfunctional ex-husbands who have substance abuse problems or even murder convictions, simply on the grounds that the children “should be afforded the opportunity to grow up in a non-lesbian household”
Source: http://www.rohrbaughassociates.net/pdfs/same_sex.pdf





Aside from experiencing other forms of abuse, LGBT victims of domestic violence have a much more difficult time accessing services. Here are some reason:

Lack of screening

Traditionally, service providers have done little to no screening to distinguish between abuser and victim. When a woman calls a shelter or the police, it is automatically assumed the male is abusing her. However, this model fails when one deals with same-sex couples. There have been cases of same-sex domestic violence in which the couple was arrested, placed in the police car, and even locked in the same cell, only to be released the next day. In addition, when service providers do not screen, they are likely to offer services to the abuser, further alienating and stigmatizing the victim.

Lack of resources

Most domestic violence shelters are women-only shelters and operate under a heterosexual model (in support groups, for example, facilitators will talk about male privilege, what it means to be a woman in relation to me, and how to prevent future male partners from abusing them). This means that many LGBT victims of domestic violence do not seek help or shelter.

LGBT-phobia

Renewal House, where I work, has provided services to transgender clients who were refused services at other shelters. Some social workers have asked transgender clients the hurtful question of, “What is between your legs?” before allowing them to access services, and many transgender survivors even report experiencing abuse in shelters. Homo-, bi-, and trans-phobia can also play a role in court proceedings. Judges can say things like:

• You boys need to just work it out.
• Why are girls always getting in these fights?

LGBT-phobia might also affect survivors’ obtaining custody of their children. After hearing a divorce case between a heterosexual man and a recently out lesbian woman, a judge might feel that the child’s best interest would be to grow up with the heterosexual abusive father, away from the influence of the homosexual ‘lifestyle.’ In addition, LGBT survivors might not feel comfortable in mainstream domestic violence support groups. Finally, while LGBT people experience domestic violence in rates equal to that of the general population, almost half of LGBT survivors cannot access shelter safety and a fourth are mistakenly arrested as the aggressor by law enforcement. Over 55 percent of LGBT survivors are denied orders of protection.

Smaller community and closeted individuals

Given the small size of LGBT communities as compared to the general population, survivors and abusers are likely to know the same people, resources, and support groups. For example, it is likely that a survivor may access a support group that does not screen for abuse only to be joined by his or her abuser a few weeks later. In addition, LGBT survivors who are closeted might not have friends, family members, faith communities, or other social circles to seek help should the person experience abuse. The degree of isolation when one is in the closer increases drastically.

Lack of awareness

“Does domestic violence really occur in the LGBT community?!” I have heard the surprise behind this question too many times for me to remember. Many people believe LGBT couples cannot experience intimate partner abuse. Why would they abuse each other if they already have to go through so much to be together? They already have to live in an oppressive system. If LGBT couples are together, it must be out of true love, and they cannot possibly abuse each other. So does the logic go. As mentioned earlier, the LGBT community experiences as much, if sometimes not more, domestic violence than the rest of the population. Unfortunately, it is the misconception that intimate partner abuse only affects (straight) women that partly accounts for a lack of resources (informational material and shelters, for example) as well as a lack of broader and more inclusive conversations about intimate partner abuse.