Resources

AVP has recently heard concerns about incidents of pick-up violence against and within lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) communities. Individuals are often reluctant to report such incidents to AVP due to stigma around sexual activity. Survivors of pick-up violence often feel an extra sense of shame or a fear of reporting because they engaged in anonymous sex and fear being blamed or arrested and therefore may not report this violence to the police or to community based organizations. Therefore, pick-up violence is one of the least discussed forms of violence committed against LGBTQ communities.

Report shows highest homicide rate ever recorded

• Gay men disproportionately victims of homicide in 2011
• 19 intimate partner violence homicides of LGBTQ and HIV-affected people documented; the highest yearly total ever recorded and more than three times the number documented in 2010
• LGBTQH people under 30 more likely to experience violence
• More LGBTQH survivors were denied access to shelter in 2011 than in 2010

In October of 1997, the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs released Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Domestic Violence, the first-ever national report on LGBT intimate partner violence in the United States. At that time, 21 states had enforceable sodomy laws, which made it illegal to engage in consensual same-gender sexual activity, 7 states explicitly did not recognize domestic violence between people of the same gender, and the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994, the federal law which provided billions of dollars of funding to support life-saving responses to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking, was still in its infancy and years away from supporting LGBTQH survivors of domestic violence. In the fifteen years since that first release of NCAVP’s groundbreaking report, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and HIV-affected (LGBTQH) survivors of intimate partner violence have gone from being virtually invisible and silenced in both the LGBTQH movement and the intimate partner violence movement, to being featured stories in national media outlets, and at the center of national political debates about domestic violence services for survivors.

AVP has learned of an anti-LGBTQ sexual violence incident and assault that took place in Ridgewood, Queens at about 4am on Saturday morning, November 24. According to NYPD sources cited by the New York Post, two individuals physically and sexually assaulted a 26-year old gender non-conforming person near 70th Street and 70th Avenue. The survivor was treated for injuries at a local hospital.

The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) has learned of the bulling-related death of 17- year old Josh Pacheco of Fenton, Michigan. Josh’s parents have been vocal about linking his death to anti-gay bullying that he experienced both inside and outside of school.

NCAVP is working with Equality Michigan, an NCAVP member organization in Detroit, to offer our assistance with their efforts to support the community during this difficult time. Equality Michigan’s statement on Josh’s death can be read here.