Celebrating Black Queer History
February 20, 2025
Keith St. JohnGladys BentleyErnestine EcksteinBarbara Jordan [...]
At AVP, we work daily to amplify the voices and honor the lived experiences of LGBTQ and HIV-affected survivors of violence, and every April we recognize Sexual Violence Awareness Month (SVAM), a variation of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, is an important time to raise awareness, support survivors, and highlight ways we can end this type of violence specifically towards LGBTQ+ and HIV-affected communities.
Sexual violence exists in our community. LGBTQ and HIV-affected people often are more likely to experience sexual violence during their lifetime, and less likely to get help.
Survivors and aggressors of sexual violence can be any gender identity. Misconceptions about gender and sexual orientation, and how they relate to sexual violence cause additional barriers for survivors seeking healing.
We can help end sexual violence. Speak out and be an upstander against the sexual violence you see in our communities.
Consent is required. Always have dialogue with your partner(s) around boundaries and desires and ensure affirmative consent with any and all sexual encounters. Consent can be revoked at any time, for any reason!
You are never to blame if you experience sexual violence. Nothing that a survivor does or says is a cause for sexual violence.
AVP is always here to help. No matter when or where the violence happened, reach out to AVP at 212-714-1141 for help and support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
February 20, 2025
Keith St. JohnGladys BentleyErnestine EcksteinBarbara Jordan [...]
February 16, 2025
NEW YORK, NY February 16, 2025 CONTACT: Audacia Ray, Interim Executive Director | aray@avp.org | 917-334-8618 “The conditions leading to Sam Nordquist’s murder are a horrible combination of factors – growing permissiveness for anti-trans sentiment, lack of support for trans people of color seeking out close relationships, and a cultural indifference to the humanity of LGBTQ people. In a political moment in which the f[...]
February 14, 2025
Starting in 2021 and through 2023, thanks to community reports to AVP’s hotline, news coverage, and whisper networks in the nightlife communities, AVP documented a series of hook up violence incidents that originated in gay bars in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan. AVP produced 11 x 14 posters that bar managers hung near bathrooms as part of the Bar Safety Initiative These incidents became a public concern wh[...]
January 24, 2025
Following a fatal incident in a Harlem Deli on January 2nd, Jaia Cruz, a 24-year –old transgender woman, pled not guilty to the indictment of second-degree murder on Thursday, January 23rd in a Manhattan courtroom. The January 2nd incident between Ray Hodge, a 36-year-old postal worker, and Ms. Cruz, was initially reported as an altercation over a place in line that escalated and resulted in the stabbing death of Mr. Hodge. Subsequent testi[...]
December 12, 2024
When They Marginalize, We Organize. The New York City Anti-Violence Project’s work supporting and advocating for LGBTQ+ and HIV-affected survivors of violence centers LGBTQ survivors and works to build bridges among communities in New York that experience not just homophobia and transphobia but bias and discrimination based on racism, anti-immigrant sentiments, Islamophobia, antisemitism, pushing back against the institutions, people and mi[...]
November 22, 2024
Signing the Securing Access to Fair & Equal (SAFE) Shelter Act into law will help more at-risk people find a safe haven. By Liz Roberts and Audacia Ray - Published by Times Union - 11/19/24 It’s incumbent upon us to try to build a society that allows survivors to heal, thrive and succeed, especially survivors from the communities that are marginalized. But New York’s domestic violence shelter system was designed to administer ser[...]
October 11, 2024
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October 7, 2024
- Last week, we shared a statement that intended to express solidarity to Palestinian people and underscore that our free hotline, counseling, and legal services are welcoming and accessible to Arab and Palestinian LGBTQ+ people who call New York home. Our allies in the progressive Jewish community have helped us recognize where we lacked nuance in addressing the complexities of government actions during war and their effects on civil[...]
Trans communities are facing disinformation, discrimination, and hate.
AVP’s Legal Department provides free, life-saving legal support to LGBTQ+ survivors, helping them secure safety and immigration protections.
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