- Conference
- 2023 National LGBT+ Conference
- Date
- 20 July 2023
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategies (VAWG) currently in place or in consultation across England and devolved nations must be more explicit in its inclusion of LGBT+ communities. Research by the national partner and sexual violence survey found that underreporting of domestic abuse in the LGBT+ community is between 60 and 80%. In addition, Stonewall reports that ‘One in four of all lesbian and bisexual women have experienced domestic violence in a relationship. Two thirds of those say the perpetrator identified as female and a third male. One in four of the general population of women has experienced domestic violence.’ Further research by Stonewall found that over half (51%) of trans people who had experienced domestic abuse in the last year reported that their partner had ridiculed their gender identity.
Conference also notes in several countries, including the United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (US) and Canada, studies have shown that bi+ women are more vulnerable to rape, sexual assault, domestic violence and stalking. In addition, coercive control is prevalent in same-sex relationships with a study in 2012 recording that 48.4% of lesbian women and 68.8% of bisexual women have experienced coercive control in their lifetime, compared to 40.5% of straight women. It is clear that targeted support for LGBT+ women is under-resourced, or non-existent in some parts of the UK, such as Northern Ireland.
Conference believes that strategies to end all violence against women and girls should include a section on the explicit needs and experiences of LGBT+ women and girls. There should be targeted support for LGBT+ women who experience or are at risk of violence, including domestic abuse and sexual violence. There should be mandatory training on best practice such as using gender neutral pronouns and sexual orientation awareness for service providers and advocates. In addition, there should be LGBT+ domestic violence liaison support and independent domestic violence advocates.
We call on the National LGBT+ Committee to:
1)Encourage branches and regions to support campaigns for VAWG strategies to explicitly include LGBT+ people.
2)Campaign for targeted support for LGBT+ victims and survivors
3)Campaign for LGBT+ awareness training for service providers who may be in contact with LGBT+ communities who themselves have experienced violence.
4)Work with the national women’s committee to make UNISON’s work on violence against women and girls inclusive of the explicit needs and experiences of LGBT+ people.