Common forms of violence LGBTQI+ persons experience (Reading)

Violence and abuse can take many form, can occur regularly or intermittently but always is focused on one thing: power and control over the victim. LGBTQI+ persons often experience harassment or abuse based on SOGIE (sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression), but they can be also the targets of domestic and dating violence. Here we list the most common forms of violence and abuse, that professionals might meet when working with LGBTQI+ clients.

Discrimination

Discrimination may occur directly, when a person is treated less favourably than another person because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, or indirectly, when a general criterion or practise disadvantages a person based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. LGBTQI+ people face discrimination in various aspects in their life. The scenes of discrimination can vary for each individual, but the most prominent are the following:

• Education (ie. not being able to attend a given school)
• Workplace (ie. job application being rejected)
• Healthcare (ie. services being denied)
• Public spaces (ie. being excluded)
• Media (ie. not being properly addressed)
• Religious communities (ie. being shunned)

In most countries, discrimination is prohibited by the law. Check for the legislation in your country to provide your participants with valid and up-to-date information and also create a list of services that provide legal aid.

Microaggressions

Microaggressions are behaviours that subtly or indirectly communicate a derogatory or otherwise hostile message to the recipient. Microaggressions are defined as “brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioural, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative slights and insults toward members of oppressed groups” (Nadal, 2008, p. 23, as cited in Nadal et.al.,.2011).

Domestic violence

According to the definition, domestic violence is the aggressive and abusive behaviour that appears between family members or intimate partners, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, social background, race etc. A lot of people fail to recognise the signs of domestic abuse as most people consider only physical aggression as violence. In reality, in an intimate relationship or in family situations, violence can take many forms other than physical: psychological, emotional, economic, social and sexual. The abusive behaviour moves on a very wide scale in severity, starting from belittling comments to excessive physical violence, even murder. It is common that in the beginning there are isolated and rare manifestations of violent acts on the other person’s side followed by apologies and regrets, the violent party comes up with excuses (stress, alcohol etc.) and promises it won’t happen again.

There are three main myths regarding domestic violence within lesbian and gay couples:

• The first one is that it is non-existent.
• The second is that the violence is reciprocal.
• The third is that the abuse is less severe.

The truth is that the prevalence of domestic abuse is the same amongst heterosexual couples and LGBTQI+ couples, there is existing power difference between the parties, and the severity of the abuse isn’t connected with sexual orientation.

As LGBTQI+ persons often experience peer and family rejection, they are the subject of increased isolation, making it harder to reach out for help and support in an abusive situation. In LGBTQI+ relationships the sexual orientation/gender identity can function as a “tool” in the partner’s hand,  there are cases when they threaten their partners with sharing their SOGIE or withhold them from coming out.

The LGBTQI+ identity makes it harder for the victims to reach out as they fear being judged and rejected. A disturbing piece of data: trans women, especially sex workers, are at a high risk of suffering violence from partners or clients and reports are still very rare, only an estimated 4% percent of the victims have reported to the police or looked for help from other sources. Another high-risk group are those LGBTQI+ children and teens whose family abuses them on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity.

Hate crimes

In many countries of the European Union, acts of violence against a social group are legally classified as hate crimes, which entail harsher sentences if convicted. In some countries, this form of legislation extends to verbal abuse as well as physical violence. The base offence could be anything prohibited by the criminal law, the act becomes a hate crime when the victim is selected based on a personal characteristic ie. sexual orientation or gender identity. For perpetrators, these kinds of acts serve as a message to the whole group that they are unwelcome and unsafe in the society, thus decreasing feelings of safety and security, which leads to making LGBTQI+ people hide their identities in fear for their safety.

There exists conclusive evidence that anti-LGBTQI+ hate crimes persist across Europe. The FRA European LGBT Survey (2019) found that 11% of LGBTI people experienced physical or sexual attacks due to being LGBTI+ in the five years preceding the survey, and 38% had experiences of harassment due to being LGBTI+ just in the 12 months preceding the survey.

People victimised by violent physical hate crimes are likely to experience more psychological distress than victims of other violent crimes. Specifically, victims of crimes that are bias-motivated are more likely to experience post-traumatic stress, safety concerns, depression, anxiety and anger. Furthermore, even just witnessing discrimination against one’s own group can lead to an amount of psychological distress , a feeling of being in danger, and lower self-esteem.

Hate crimes have the potential to cause injury and distress both at the individual and community level.

Hate speech

By FRA’s definition “Hate speech refers to the incitement and encouragement of hatred, discrimination or hostility towards an individual that is motivated by prejudice against that person because of a particular characteristic, for example, their sexual orientation or gender identity. ” Hate speech tries to promote and justify hatred and hostility towards the group of LGBTQI+ people, it can also contribute to the general societal atmosphere: in communities where hate speech is accepted or tolerated, actual attacks are more probable against the members of a given group. Hate speech is hard to tackle, as cases are underreported and they can also appear on any given platform.