We Need More Resources: Stories of QTPOC* Survival in the South

Abstract

While men’s sexual violence against women is unarguably a social and public health issue, both nationally representative data and smaller studies tell us that rates for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer+ (LGBTQ+) individuals are equally or significantly higher. Despite this, there remains little structural support for LGBTQ + survivors. This article highlights the voices of 38 queer and trans people of color (QTPOC)-identified U.S. Southerners who have experienced sexual violence and came together across three focus groups to detail their interactions with advocates and other professionals and explore posttraumatic needs. Nearly all survivors reported that the level of awareness regarding sexual violence in their communities was limited, with most reporting that they did not successfully access mainstream services, due to concerns about homophobia, transphobia, and racism. To address sexual violence in LGBTQ + communities, survivors pointed to the importance of friendship and community networks “outside the system,” knowledge sharing about LGBTQ+-specific violence tactics (e.g., threats of outing a partner), and holding batterers accountable for their behavior within LGBTQ + circles. Findings highlight the need to move beyond “culturally competent” health care by proactively engaging LGBTQ + communities in education, networking, resource sharing, and anti-violence outreach.

Keywords:

• people of color
• homophobia
• heterosexism
• intimate partner violence
• transgender

Notes

Notes

1 Here, and throughout the literature review, “LGBT” is used instead of “LGBTQ+,” when the study sample only includes LGBT-identified individuals and does not account for queer individuals or other diverse sexual orientation or gender identity categories.

2 Although it should be noted that there are limitations with NCAVP data. As they report, “NCAVP members’ capacity for data collection varied based upon the program’s resources, staffing, available technology, and other factors. These considerations resulted in some programs submitting partial information in some categories, which creates incomplete and dissimilar amounts of data for different variables within the 2015 data set. Moreover, because of the nature of crisis intervention and direct service work that is done as data is collected through NCAVP’s incident form, missing values are common… In addition, not all NCAVP member organizations can collect data in the same way… Some NCAVP members have more capacity (i.e., staff, volunteers, and time) to collect aggregate and person-level data, as well as conduct outreach to educate and inform LGBTQ and HIV-affected survivors of their services, thereby increasing reporting. Some organizations have less capacity and are unable to submit both aggregate and person-level data. This disparity reflects the historic lack of funding, resources and capacity-building for LGBTQ and HIV-specific organizations, particularly those outside of urban areas” (p. 15).

3 “Latinx” is the gender-neutral alternative to Latino, Latina, and even Latin@. It has been documented in use within LGBTQ + communities online since as early as 2004 (Ramirez & Blay, 2016), but increasingly, scholars, activists, and journalists are also using it. Although many people may not identify as Latinx for various reasons, using Latinx instead of Latino/a is a way to be more inclusive of identities that go beyond the gender and sexuality binaries (Vidal-Ortiz & Martínez, 2018)—as is the case with the survivors documented within this article.