Call for domestic violence inclusion

Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick has called for greater inclusion of LGBTI people in Australia’s response to domestic violence.

Speaking at the first national conference on LGBTI domestic violence in Sydney today, Broderick said LGBTI people are invisible when it comes t o domestic violence.

“Domestic violence knows no barriers – it is not limited to any one type of relationship, nor is it limited by an individual’s sex, sexual orientation or gender identity,” she said.

“While it remains hidden and unacknowledged, and while the domestic violence experiences of people who identify as LGBTIQ are not included in the wider discussion, effective action remains difficult.”

Broderick said LGBTI people are not adequately targeted for help and are not represented in domestic violence data.

“The invisibility of LGBTIQ domestic violence and the attempts to raise awareness of the problem and seek solutions have many parallels with the global campaign to eradicate gender-based violence against women,” Broderick said.

“If we cast our minds back just over 30 years, gender-based violence against women was largely invisible and its harms went unrecognised – women were expected to suffer in silence because domestic violence was viewed as a private issue, not one that the state should be concerned with.

“The parallels with the domestic violence experience of individuals who identify as LGBTIQ today are clear.”

There is currently very little research on domestic violence within the LGBTI community, however, a 2008 La Trobe University study – Coming Forward – found just under one third of participants had been in a same-sex relationship where they were subject to abuse.

The study found 78 percent of the abuse was psychological and 58 percent physical. Lesbians were more likely than gay men to report being in an abusive relationship (41 percent compared with 28 percent).

Broderick said the Gillard Government’s promise to include sexual orientation and gender identity in new federal anti-discrimination laws is a step forward.

“Such laws would have a profound impact on reducing discrimination, vilification and harassment against people who identify as LGBTIQ in Australia, and help in reducing LGBTIQ domestic violence,” she said.

The conference is being run as an initiative of NSW Police, the City of Sydney, SOAAR (the Greater Western Sydney Network), the Inner City Legal Service and ACON.