Category: NCAVP

Contact:

Ericka Dixon, National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs edixon@avp.org
Audacia Ray, New York City Anti-Violence Project aray@avp.org 

As anti-violence organizations that provide direct services for and advocacy with LGBTQ and HIV-affected survivors of hate, intimate partner, and sexual violence, we affirm that #BlackLivesMatter and demand that city, county, and state governments commit to reallocating funding from police departments to human services agencies, including LGBTQ and survivor-centered services. In this moment of deep unrest and uncertainty, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues and in the wake of the police killings of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky; George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Tony McDade in Tallahassee, Florida, we demand that police funding be reallocated to organizations that prioritize Black lives and support survivors.

As anti-violence organizations, we work to support LGBTQ and HIV-affected individuals in reducing harm, and healing from the trauma those harms cause, as survivors of violence. For Black, indigenous, and people of color survivors, surviving homophobic, biphobic, or transphobic violence from a partner, acquaintance, family member, landlord, roommate, employer, coworker, or other individual is often paired with and compounded by racist and anti-Black violence they experience from the state. LGBTQ Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) survivors are not safe when our city, county, and state budgets prioritize the expansion of policing and continue to starve social services. Survivors are often criminalized for acts of survival, and instead of getting the care necessary to survive and thrive, their trauma is increased by harassment and violence they experience at the hands of the police. In order to work toward solutions that truly end violence, we must stand up against policing as a solution, and push for the reallocation of police funding to support community-based, trauma-informed organizations that support survivors, especially organizations that are led by BIPOC community leaders.

Our organizations operate with a survivor-centered framework, and this means supporting survivors in exploring all their options for healing and justice. For many survivors, this looks like receiving counseling support from our organizations, peer support from other survivors, and developing political education to connect their individual experiences with their communities and  building power with other survivors. Some survivors want to work with the government or state agencies to get an order of protection or even to bring charges against a person who has done them harm. We support these survivors in doing what they need to do to feel safe. 

We also believe that long-term, our communities are not safer when government budgets prioritize policing over human services that include health care, housing, education, and services for survivors of violence. During a pandemic in which LGBTQ people of color are vulnerable to illness, job loss, and housing instability, and in which Black people are dying at disproportionately higher rates, it is unconscionable for governments to fund police departments at the same or higher levels, while cutting social services. It’s time for budgets to prioritize people and social services over policing.

If you would like to add your organization to statement, sign on here.

Current Signatories:

1. Advocacy Center of Tompkins County
2. ALIVE
3. Barrier Free Living Inc.
4. Black and Latino LGBTQ Coalition
5. Brooklyn Community Pride Center
6. California Partnership to End Domestic Violence
7. Catholic Charities
8. Center for Safety & Change
9. Center for Survivor Agency & Justice
10. Chosen Family Law Center, Inc.
11. City University of New York School of Law
12. CUAV
13. Day One
14. Diverse and Resilient
15. Domestic Violence Project
16. Equality New York
17. Fenway Health — Violence Recovery Program
18. GAPIMNY — Empowering Queer & Trans Asian Pacific Islanders
19. Gender Equality New York
20. Haven Partners Group
21. Human Rights at Home Clinic Mass Law
22. Illinois Accountability Initiative
23. Jane Doe Inc. MA Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence
24. Legal Aid Society
25. Los Angeles LGBT Center
26. MenChallenging
27. North Brooklyn Coalition Against Family Violence
28. NW Network of Bisexual, Trans, Lesbian, and Gay Survivors of Abuse
29. NYC Anti-Violence Project
30. OutFront Minnesota
31. Pacific Coast Counseling
32. Positive Sum Consulting
33. Pride Center of Vermont
34. Rachel Weiss
35. Rainbow Community Cares
36. Safe Horizon
37. Sakhi for South Asian Women
38. Self
39. St. Loui Anti-Violence Project
40. Legal Aid Society
41. The Legal Project
42. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
43. LGBTQ Center Long Beach
44. The Montrose Center
45. Trans Pride Initiative
46. Violence Recovery Program of Fenway Health
47. Willow Domestic Violence Center NY
48. WINGS Foundation
49. YMCA of Genesee Count
50. ZA’AKAH

The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), a coalition of 50 LGBTQ anti-violence organizations across the country, supports the Equality Act and urges Congress to pass H.R. 5. The Equality Act is a crucial step toward LGBTQ liberation, introduced by Representatives David Cicilline (D-RI) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), and Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ).

The Equality Act of 2019 amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity, in addition to race, color, religion, or national origin, as protected identity factors. The bill forbids discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex stereotypes for all public services and accommodations.

While other proposed anti-discrimination legislation address single topics such as housing, education, public accommodations, and juror protection separately, The Equality Act takes a more comprehensive approach in protecting against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. In addition, the Equality Act would protect against discrimination from retail stores, transportation, pharmacies, legal services, banks, and emergency shelters.

Despite some progress in the movement for LGBTQ equality, people who identify as LGBTQ still face interpersonal and institutional oppression that limits their socioeconomic mobility and ability to access various public services. Discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is prevalent for LGBTQ people in all aspects of public life—from housing and healthcare to employment and education—and limits the success, empowerment and overall health of the LGBTQ community.

Here are a few examples of the type of discrimination that restricts the social mobility and general wellbeing of LGBTQ people, making it more challenging to pursue safe and fulfilling lives:

• Nearly 1 in 3 transgender Americans reported being denied equal treatment in a retail store, while 1 in 5 reported unequal treatment at a restaurant or a hotel.[1]
• One survey found that more than half of LGBT middle and high school students do not feel safe at school due to their sexual orientation, and over one-third feel unsafe in relation to their gender expression.[2]
• 23% of respondents experienced some form of housing discrimination in the past year, such as being evicted from their home or denied a home or apartment because of being transgender.[3]
• In 2015, 39% of non-binary people and 34% of transgender men and women reported receiving negative treatment on public transportation.[4]
• 30% of respondents who had a job in the past year reported being fired, denied a promotion, or experiencing some other form of mistreatment in the workplace related to their gender identity or expression, such as being harassed or attacked.[5]

There is an indivisible connection between discrimination and harassment of LGBTQ people in the public sphere and more severe acts of violence against and within the community. Hate violence and discrimination often serve as risk factors for interpersonal violence in LGBTQ relationships. Research shows that prolonged discrimination and prejudice against historically marginalized communities causes chronic stress, and can exacerbate situations of intimate partner violence[6]. Further, preventing discrimination in housing, employment, banks, and elsewhere enables to survivors to more safely access supportive survivors after experiencing violence.

[1] Jaime M. Grant, Lisa A. Mottet, and Justin Tanis, “Injustice at Every Turn: A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey” (Washington: National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, 2011), available at http://www.thetaskforce.org/ downloads/reports/reports/ntds_full.pdf.

[2] Joseph G. Kosciw. “The 2013 National School Climate Survey” (Washington: GLSEN, 2014), available at http://glsen.org/nscs

[3] James, S. E., Herman, J. L., Rankin, S., Keisling, M., Mottet, L., & Anafi, M. (2016). The Report of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey. Washington, DC: National Center for Transgender Equality.

[4] See above.

[5] See above.

[6] Barrett, B. (March 2015). “Domestic Violence in the LGBT Community.” Encyclopedia of Social Work.

The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), a coalition of more than 50 LGBTQ anti-violence organizations across the country, urges Congress to pass the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019, H.R. 1585.

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) remains the only piece of federal legislation that includes explicit civil rights protections for LGBTQ communities. VAWA focuses on preventing and responding to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. These protections have altered the landscape for lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender and queer (LGBTQ) survivors – particularly for those who experience marginalization based on more than one identity – by increasing access to essential survivor services  and setting a precedent for civil rights protections in future legislation.

Research shows that LGBTQ people experience high rates of intimate partner violence, sexual violence, stalking, and dating violence and far too many of these survivors are not able to access supportive services. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC)’s National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey: 2010 Findings on Victimization by Sexual Orientation, 44% of lesbian women, 61% of bisexual women, 37% of bisexual men and 26% of gay men have experienced rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner at some point in their lives. Research on transgender communities is still limited, but the data that does exist shows that upwards of 50% of transgender people will experience intimate partner violence at some point in their lives. Most recently, NCAVP reported that 37% of LGBTQ intimate partner violence cases included heterosexist or anti-LGBTQ bias.

These high rates of violence are often caused and exacerbated by a lack of LGBTQ affirming prevention and support. VAWA has increased the accessibility of resources for LGBTQ programs, and established opportunities for other programs to receive training and technical assistance so they can better serve LGBTQ survivors. Without this funding, LGBTQ survivors and other underserved communities would be harmed in even greater numbers.

The Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019 affirms current protections for LGBTQ and other underserved communities and provides enhanced data collection. In addition, the bill also includes:

• Provisions to protect Native survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence, stalking, and dating violence and ensure that they can access the justice they deserve;
• Protections from abusive partners with dangerous weapons;
• Improved protections for survivors in federal public, subsidized and assisted housing; and
• Increased funding for sexual violence prevention and education programs.

This bill reflects the field’s commitment to ensuring that all survivors have access to services and care when experiencing intimate partner violence, sexual violence, stalking, and dating violence. As a result of a fully inclusive VAWA being re-authorized, more survivors will have access to necessary life-saving services, and supporting the needs of all survivors will be affirmed as a national priority.

To express your support for this vital piece of legislation, call your Representatives today and encourage them to sponsor H.R. 1585, and call your Senators to ask that they introduce a bill with the same provisions of H.R. 1585.

On Tuesday, the United States Supreme Court voted to temporarily allow the Trump administration’s ban on most transgender individuals serving in the military to go into effect while the lawsuits challenging the ban move forward. The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) strongly condemns the transgender military ban and such attacks against the transgender community.

The first public news of a transgender military ban came by way of the President’s social media in July 2017 and was later formalized by former Secretary of Defense James Mattis. The policy, released in 2018, confirmed that the military would no longer allow anyone who identifies with a gender different from the one assigned at birth to serve. Under the new policy, the military would also not pay for transgender affirming medical care. Several law suits have been filed challenging the discriminatory policy and in several cases, lower courts granted injunctions to block the policy, meaning that transgender recruits could join the armed forces, and those already enlisted could stay.

All injunctions from the lower courts have been overruled by the Supreme Court except for one, which will likely be overruled soon, allowing the ban to go into effect while the lawsuits proceed in the courts. Notably, the Supreme Court typically waits to address a case until a lower court issues a ruling. This week, the Court has circumvented this timeline and has issued this order while lower courts are deciding their positions.

Excluding transgender people from serving in the military is one more example of the persistent discrimination transgender people experience in employment, housing, healthcare and education. The current administration’s continued attacks on the transgender community, in particular, are unacceptable and contribute to a culture of violence against transgender and gender non-conforming people and all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people. NCAVP works to prevent and end all forms of violence against and within the LGBTQ community and considers this military ban to be a dehumanizing and violent act of discrimination.