INCLUDING SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND GENDER IDENTITY IN VAWA IN 2013

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), first authorized in 1994, is at the core of our nations response to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking and creates and supports comprehensive, effective and cost saving responses. VAWAs reauthorization should clarify that it includes protections explicitly based on sexual orientation and gender identity to address the real, and underserved, needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) victims of violence.

VAWA bills currently include narrowly tailored remedies for LGBTQ victims S.47 and H.11 would include LGBTQ victims of violence by:

1) Naming LGBTQ communities as underserved, allowing service providers to meet their unique needs; 2) Prohibiting discrimination by service providers on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity assuring that services are open to all victims; and 3) Creating a specific purpose area in the STOP program for states to provide services for LGBTQ victims.

LGBTQ survivors experience the same or higher rates of violence but are underserved and often get turned away from services because of their sexual orientation or gender identity Rates of Violence
In a recent study, the CDC found that lesbians and gay men experienced violence at the same or higher rates as heterosexual people. Nearly 44% of lesbians and 26% of gay men have been the victim of rape, physical 1 violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner over the course of their lifetime. The CDC found the following prevalence for lifetime prevalence of intimate partner violence, including physical assault, rape or stalking: bisexual women (61%), lesbians (43.8%), bisexual men (37%), heterosexual women 2 (35%), heterosexual men (29%), and gay men (26%). In another study, transgender survivors of violence were almost 2 times (1.81) as likely to report experiencing sexual violence than people who were not transgender and transgender people of color were almost 2 times 3 (1.86) as likely to report experiencing threats or intimidation from intimate partners.

Underserved
More than 61% of LGBTQ survivors are turned away from domestic violence shelter and nearly a third are misarrested as the primary aggressor by local law enforcement. Fewer than 3% of all survivors sought orders of 4 protection and fewer than 50% of all victims reported violence to the police. In another 2010 study, 94% of victim services and law enforcement agencies said that they did not have 5 specific services for LGBTQ victims. In fact, studies have shown that only one in five survivors of same6 gender sexual assault and intimate partner violence received victim services. In another study, 85% of service providers working with LGBTQ victims of violence saw discrimination based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity.

Gender neutral language will not resolve the specific needs of LGBTQ survivors.

LGBTQ survivors face distinct and specific barriers based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and not just their gender, and those barriers need to be addressed by the inclusion of the words sexual orientation and gender identity into the law. For example, women are turned away from shelter not because they are women but because they are lesbians. Gender neutral language will not address this issue; explicit language addressing sexual orientation and gender identity will.
1

Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS): 2010 Findings on Victimization by Sexual Orientation (January 2013). Available at http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/pdf/NISVS_SOfindings.pdf (Last retr. 1/26/13.) 2 Id. 3 National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Intimate Partner Violence in the United States in 2011 (October 2012). Available at http://avp.org/storage/documents/Reports/2012_NCAVP_2011_IPV_Report.pdf (Last retr. 1/26/13.) 4 Id. 5 National Center for Victims of Crime and National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, Why It Matters: Rethinking Victim Assistance for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Victims of Hate Violence & Intimate Partner Violence (March 2010). Available at http://avp.org/storage/documents/Reports/WhyItMatters_LGBTQreport.pdf (Last retr. 1/26/13.) 6 McClennen, Joan C., Domestic Violence Between Same-Gender Partners: Recent Findings and Future Research, Journal of Interpersonal Violence; 2005, Vol. 20; 149.

National Coalition of Anti-Violence ProgramsSharon Stapelsstapel@avp.org 212.714.1184 x 22 National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs Terra Slavintslavin@lagaycenter.org 323.860.3715