IPV hurts many in the LGBTQ and HIV-affected communities, yet this serious issue is rarely acknowledged or addressed. Finding support and accessing care is a challenge for all survivors of IPV, but LGBTQ and HIV-affected people – especially people of color, transgender people, and young people – face particularly tough barriers to care. Often, abusers use a person’s marginalized identities against them. For example, the report found that an increasing number of IPV survivors reported that their abusers used anti-immigrant and anti-HIV biases to exert power and control over them.
The report’s other major findings include:
- LGBTQ and HIV-affected people of color made up 60% of reported IPV homicides in 2016, and were 59% of the total number of survivors who reported to NCAVP members.
- The percentage of survivors who identified as Latinx increased from 24% in 2015 to 30% in 2016.
- LGBTQ and HIV-affected people under 40 made up 73% of reported IPV homicides, and were 66% of the total number of survivors who reported to NCAVP members in 2016.
- Survivors who reported sexual violence within IPV rose from 4% in 2015 to 7% in 2016.
- Transgender women were 2.5 times more likely to be stalked, 2.5 times more likely to experience financial violence, and twice as likely to experience online harassment within IPV compared to survivors who were not transgender women.
- Transgender and gender non-conforming survivors and Latinx survivors were both three times more likely to experience IPV from an ex-partner.
- LGBTQ survivors of IPV most commonly sought legal and housing services, mental health advocacy, safety planning and emergency funds.
“The data in this report brings to light the reality of the ways violence affects the lives of LGBTQ and HIV-affected persons,” said Tanisha Arena, VRP Advocate for Western Massachusetts. “In this political climate, the work of the NCAVP is critical and necessary.”
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