Domestic Abuse in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans + Relationships

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Conference
2019 National LGBT+ Conference
Date
25 July 2019
Decision
Carried as Amended

Conference notes that there is a postcode lottery of services that support victims and perpetrators of domestic abuse in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans + (LGBT+) relationships. For example, in Blackpool, the local Probation Service only has access to programmes that are aimed at heterosexual male offenders, whereas in Manchester, the local Probation Service has access to a wider range of programmes but only through partner agencies.

Research by Stonewall suggests that 25% of lesbian and bisexual women and 40% of gay and bisexual men have experienced at least one incident of domestic abuse from a partner, with research from Scotland suggesting that up to 80% of trans participants had experienced domestic abuse.

GALOP – the LGBT+ Anti-Violence Charity, in its response to the announcement about the Domestic Violence and Abuse Bill, pointed out that there are ‘no specific National Offender Management Service (NOMS) accredited or other programmes for people who perpetrate domestic abuse in LGBT relationships and only two services in England (based in Manchester and Birmingham) currently provide LGBT specialist Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (IDVA) support’.

GALOP also suggest that between 60 – 80% of LGBT+ survivors of domestic abuse have never reported incidents or tried to access support services and that there are no LGBT-specific refuge services in England.

To reduce reoffending rates for domestic abuse, society needs to tackle the underlying behaviours that result in domestic abuse. Our members who work in Probation Services to manage offenders cannot do this if they are unable to even refer LGBT+ perpetrators of domestic abuse to basic re-education services.

Conference therefore calls on the National LGBT+ Committee to

1)Work with the Police and Justice Service Group Executive to survey branches with members working in probation to canvas the extent of this issue for our members, with a view to obtaining good and bad practice examples

2)Work with Labour Link to identify opportunities to lobby for inclusive country wide domestic abuse services

3)Highlight this issue through all suitable communication channels

4)Continue to promote the work of GALOP – the LGBT+ Anti-Violence Charity