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Sexual violence in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered (LGBT) community.


Below you will find information about how sexual violence impacts people who are LGBT. If you are LGBT and are a survivor of sexual violence, the Bluegrass Rape Crisis Center is here to help.

Unique issues regarding sexual violence survivors in LGBT communities:
(Information comes from the WingSpan Antiviolence Project)

  • Many LGBT individuals feel the gay or transgendered community is a safe haven from hate crimes and discrimination, and so may have difficulty facing violence from someone in their own community.
  • If a survivor is not "out" she or he may be afraid to risk coming forward and being "outed." Or, he or she may be confused, embarrassed, and ashamed of the sexual assault or consider it a "normal" first-time experience.
  • Discrimination and hate crimes lead some survivors to feel their identity, and therefore their very existence, is questionable and so reporting may seem futile.
  • When a LGBT survivor seeks assistance from the community or law enforcement, he or she may not be believed or taken seriously due to homophobia or lack of training/information.
  • LGBT individuals generally suffer from greater isolation from family and friends than heterosexual people and, therefore, they may not expect support even if they did come forward.
  • Many people deny LGBT relationships are legitimate which can be a barrier to reporting sexual violence and seeking help.
  • A survivor of sexual violence who has HIV/AIDS may already feel a sense of shame or self-blame and be less likely to report an attack.
  • If the assault occurred during an S&M play scene when a safe word was violated, the survivor may not feel it was a sexual assault or may believe they deserved it. (Note: This applies to heterosexual survivors as well.)
  • Survivors of same-sex sexual assault have been invisible in mainstream legal/medical/community organizations, and so providers may not believe someone coming forward.
  • Trauma effects of sexual violence are magnified for those dealing with the stress of a homophobic society. Transgendered individuals often go through periods of depression or suicidal thoughts. Many LGBT individuals feel shame about their identity. All of this affects healthy coping responses.
  • Internalized homophobia or transphobia may lead to feelings of responsibility (e.g., "This happened to me because of who I am."). They may question their orientation and/or gender and feel helpless.

Sexual violence can be a method of homophobic violence. Some common concerns of survivors of sexual violence includes:
(Information comes from the WingSpan Antiviolence Project)

  • Safety.
  • Fear of the consequences of telling friends, families, and lovers. Particularly a fear of rejection or blame.
  • Guilt and depression.
  • Medical concerns such as pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, and HIV.
  • Ambivalence about pressing charges.

Factual information
(Information comes from the WingSpan Antiviolence Project)

  • Women may be raped by men or other women.
  • Men may be raped by women or other men.
  • Just as in the heterosexual population, the rapist may be a stranger or may be an acquaintance or partner.
  • Studies around prevalence of sexual violence and the LGBT population have many limitations and results vary widely because:
    • Victims are not usually compelled to disclose their sexual orientation, therefore it is difficult to get a solid number of those raped within the LGBT community.
    • Many additional barriers (see below) exist for LGBT survivors therefore it is likely that the reporting rate is even lower than for the general population.

Barriers to reporting/telling:
(Information comes from the WingSpan Antiviolence Project)

  • Fear that police, medical personnel, and counselors won't be sensitive to LGBT issues.
  • Concern that she or he will be forced to come out to family, friends, and the professionals who are responding.
  • The perpetrator may have threatened "outing" the survivor or told the survivor that the process would "out" her or him.
  • Fear of response because the "norm" for our culture is a heterosexual man raping a heterosexual woman.
  • Fear of lack of sensitivity from the system, of not being believed.
  • Fear of being forced to "come out"--even the gender of the assailant could potentially disclose a victim's sexual orientation.
  • Societal disbelief that same-sex sexual violence occurs
  • Beliefs that survivors of same-sex violence do not deserve or need help.

LGBT survivors of sexual violence.*

Lesbians:

Pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections are medical issues that lesbians do not often deal with. As a result, she may be less aware of important issues and how to address them. Painful penetration, which can be traumatic both medically and emotionally, and insensitive treatment by health care providers and police, who may assume she is heterosexual.

Many lesbian sexual assault survivors experience a sense of isolation, vulnerability, punishment, or paranoia. A lesbian survivor also experiences shame, because not only has her body been violated, but her lifestyle has been violated. Some experience a diminished sense of self, because her independence and self-sufficiency are at odds with feelings of vulnerability. Lesbians who are in relationships may have the additional complication of having a partner who was sexually assaulted at some point in the past. The partner may re-experience her own trauma or project her own needs onto her partner.

Gay men:

Sexual assault can lead to feelings of self-blame and self-loathing which is attached to one’s sexuality. With so much homophobia in society, it is no wonder that many gay men suffer from internal conflicts about their sexuality. Being sexually assaulted may lead a gay man to believe he somehow “deserved it,” that he was “paying the price” for one’s sexual orientation. Unfortunately, this self-blame can be reinforced by the ignorance or intolerance of others who blame the victims by suggesting that a gay victim somehow provoked the assault or was less harmed by it because one is gay. Gay men may also hesitate to report a sexual assault due to fears of blame, disbelief or intolerance by police or medical personnel. As a result, gay men may be deprived of legal protections and necessary medical care following an assault.

Some sexual assaults of men and women are actually forms of gay-bashing, motivated by fear and hatred of homosexuality. In these cases, perpetrators may verbally abuse their victims and imply that the victim deserved to be sexually assaulted. It’s important to remember that sexual assault is an act of violence, power, control and degradation and that no one deserves it.

Bisexual individuals

  • Bisexuality as a sexual orientation is invisible, since bisexuals are seen as heterosexual when partnered with someone of the opposite sex, or G/L when partnered with someone of the same sex. Reporting agencies may identify their orientation by partner as well.

  • Myths of bisexuality are stigmatizing:
    • Bisexuality is not a legitimate orientation.
    • Bisexual individuals are really gay but won’t admit it.
    • They’re on the fence.
    • They don’t know themselves.
    • Bisexual people are promiscuous and can’t be trusted (will leave you for someone of another sex).
  • Bisexual persons often don’t have a community like those who are gay or heterosexual. Often they are rejected by the gay subculture if they have an other-sex partner or rejected by the heterosexual community when they have a same-sex partner. Therefore, isolation and a sense of not belonging can be a barrier.

Transgendered individuals:

  • Transgendered people are the targets of the most vicious and blatant forms of violence. They are routinely abused by the police and medical professionals, in addition to being subjected to random street violence and domestic partner abuse. Intimate partners, often appalled to discover the gender transgression, can verbally, psychologically, physically and sexually abuse the person.
  • Approximately 50% of transgendered and intersexed individuals have been raped or assaulted by a romantic partner
  • Trans-phobic bigotry, like racist violence, allows society to falsely identify the victims of violence as the provacateurs of violence. Despite the fact that transgendered individuals are much more often victims of violence than they are perpetrators, transgendered persons are frequently portrayed in the media as psychotics and criminals.
  • Transgendered people are often sexually targeted specifically because of their transgendered status.
  • Violence against members of the transgender community shares many similarities with violence stemming from anti-female hatred and anti-homosexual (and other hate crime) attacks. Furthermore, distinguishing the motivation behind a violent attack against a transgendered person is often impossible because of the intersection between misogyny and hatred of other persons whose existence undermines perceived male sexual supremacy and the gender dichotomy which is its necessary underpinning. For example, a male-to-female transsexual may concurrently experience physical or sexual assault as a woman (targeted by her assailant because of anti-female hatred) and hate-crime victimization as a (perceived) effeminate, homosexual male, or as a "gender-deviant" person.
  • Societal discomfort with transgenderism, has rendered transgendered victims of sexual assault, gay-bashing, and domestic violence without necessary services. Rape Crisis Centers and domestic violence shelters are often unprepared to address the issues of transgendered people.
  • Medical personnel respond with judgment and have been known to withhold care to people they perceive to be cross-dressing. The criminal justice and the legal systems often re-traumatize victims. The complexity of issues facing the transgendered person who is sexual assaulted can only be addressed by broad changes in the delivery system and extensive education regarding the needs of this community.

* From an article called Sexual Assault in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Communities in McClennen, J.C., & Gunther, J. (1999). Same-sex partner abuse: A professionals' guide to practice intervention. Lewiston, NY: Mellen Press.