Module 6
Considerations for Advocacy on Behalf of Victims from Vulnerable Populations

LGBTQ Community

The LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Gender Questioning) community is diverse and should be understood as such. Overall, the LGBTQ community is victimized by bias-based violence and sexual violence at alarming rates.1 While only 3.5% of the overall adult U.S. population identifies as lesbian, gay, or bisexual and only .3% identify as transgender,2 available data reveal that those among the U.S. LGBTQ population suffer higher lifetime rates of sexual assault victimization than the overall population.3 The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey found that lesbian women and gay men suffer intimate partner violence at equal or higher rates than heterosexual women and men.4

Disclaimers and Footnotes

1. National Coalition of Anti-Violence Projects, “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and HIV-Affected Hate Violence in 2016,” 2017, available at at http://avp.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/NCAVP2016HateViolence_REPORT.pdf 

2. Gates, G., “How Many People Are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender?” The Williams Institute at the University of California School of Law, April 2011.

3. Berns, E., Smith, W., Kelly, S., “LGBTQ Minorities and Sexual Assault,” Washington Courts Sexual Offense Bench Guide, April 2013, available at http://www.courts.wa.gov/index.cfm?fa=home.contentDisplay&location=manuals/SexualOffense/index. 

4. Walters, M.L., Chen, J., Breiding, M., “The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS):  2010 Findings on Victimization by Sexual Orientation,” January 2013, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, available at https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/nisvs_sofindings.pdf.

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