Show Me Love DC

Two women smiling, holding hands, dancing together in a brightly lit room with purple walls and a bicycle wall decoration.

Bright yellow sticky note with illegible handwritten text.

But for too many LGBTQ+ people, harm shows up in the places we’re told should feel the safest.

Need immediate help? Call the DC Victim Hotline

(844) 443-5732

Call or Text

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Domestic & family violence in LGBTQ+ communities is real and often invisible.

Quick Safety Exit

The Reality

Nearly two in five LGBTQ+ young people (39%) reported that they had ever been forced to do “sexual things” that they did not want to do.
More than half (54%) of trans and non-binary people have experienced intimate partner violence.
LGB women are significantly more likely than straight women to have ever experienced intimate partner violence in their lifetime, reported by 61% of bisexual women and 44% of lesbian women.
A third of men in same-sex relationships experience emotional violence, a quarter face physical violence, and one in ten endure sexual violence.

Black background with a rainbow-colored awareness ribbon and text promoting LGBTQ+ Domestic Violence Awareness Day on May 28, along with logos of associated organizations and the mayor of Washington, D.C.

Unique Factors

- A population that is already at higher risk of experiencing homelessness, trans and nonbinary folx are often excluded from DV shelter policies, leaving them with limited resources (Sechrist et al., 2022).
- Seeking help could lead to an "outing" of oneself or being "outed" by their partner, which could lead to the loss of child custody, careers, social and familial relationships, religious affiliations, and can even result in criminal punishment in some states (Serra, 2013).
- The risk of arrest and incarceration can have devastating and life-threatening consequences for LGB and particularly trans folx, and even more so if they are a person of color (Bermea et al., 2021).
- Due to the non-traditional nature of the LGBTQ+ family structure, courts do not always equally recognize child guardian rights. In most cases excluding adoption, one parent has biological ties to the child while the other does not. Courts and the child welfare system often dismiss the parent without biological ties to the child (Polikoff, 2018).
  - Black women who identified as lesbian or bisexual were 4 times more likely to lose custody of their children than their heterosexual counterparts (Harp, 2016).
  - Seeking IPV help can and has caused children of LGBTQ+ couples to be placed in foster care, further perpetuating the "unfit" stereotype of queer parents.
- Because same-sex partnerships do not fit the stereotypical image of the male perpetrator and female victim, dual arrests in cases of IPV occur in nearly 30% of same-sex couples as opposed to 1% of heterosexual couples (Andreano, 2020).