LGBTQI+ people exposed to violence rarely receive support

“Many LGBTQI+ people have experienced discrimination or have low trust in the support services provided by society. They often feel uncertain whether support for victims of intimate partner violence even includes them. Some of those interviewed struggled to see themselves as victims of violence and felt shame and guilt, which became a barrier to seeking help. Others were reluctant to speak out for fear that their minority group could be negatively affected,” says Johanna Larsson, investigator at the Swedish Gender Equality Agency.

The perpetrator belongs to the same minority

As part of a government assignment on violence against LGBTQI+ individuals, freelance journalist Anna-Maria Sörberg conducted an interview study. The study confirms a sense of vulnerability combined with exclusion, and a perceived need to remain loyal to one’s partner from a shared minority background. In situations where the partner is threatening, aggressive or violent, this creates a particularly difficult position for the victim. One interviewee expressed it this way:

"All those degrading moments out on the street, when people shouted slurs at us–they were a part of me too. This almost double sense of loyalty made it feel like I had to defend my abuser." (Lo)

All of those interviewed expressed a strong sense of identification as a minority in relation to the heterosexual majority society. However, the consequences of this vary depending on factors such as gender, sexuality, geographic location, background, country of birth, and socio-economic status.

As the author of the study, Anna-Maria Sörberg highlights a clear need to talk about what violence actually is—and to see what it does to people. The interviews show that many still perceive violence as something physical, something that happens to others. One person expressed that violence was something associated with heterosexual men, and that a queer existence was presumed to be free from oppression:

“Many of the people I hung out with had previously been with cis guys or men and had plenty of insights and conversations about the violence and sexual abuse they had experienced. But now that we were in a queer world, it was assumed we had already dismantled all those norms.” (Livia)

Fear of not being understood

Anna-Maria Sörberg explains that the people she interviewed spoke of the difficulties in recognising their own vulnerability and in understanding how they could exit the relationship. One person said: “You hear such horrifying stories about women who are abused, and I struggled to believe that what I’d experienced could be part of the same issue.” Another shared:

“A story about violence between two men will be ‘wrong enough’ that you know you risk not being understood if you seek help. And not being understood is the worst thing that could happen. It felt impossible to start speaking to anyone about what had happened.” (Max)

“There’s a recurring fear among those I interviewed,” Anna-Maria continues, “of not being believed, of not daring or wanting to seek help, and of the idea that violence must be physical in order to ‘count’ as violence. At the same time, they’re unable to break free on their own.”

Different vulnerabilities – New approaches 

Anna-Maria Sörberg has covered issues of sexuality, gender, gender identity, and what she describes as otherness for over 20 years. During this time, it has been consistently pointed out that violence in LGBTQI+ relationships is just as common as the violence that affects heterosexual women. She argues that this highlights not only the scale of the problem, but also the need for new approaches—new questions about what we can do to prevent more people from ending up in violent relationships.

“Men’s violence against women is a vast, global issue. Looking at how LGBTQI+ people are affected is not, in my view, an add-on to this field. Rather, there is reason to draw on the experiences of women, men, and everyone under the diverse LGBTQI+ umbrella to connect different forms of vulnerability and reach new insights and strategies,” she says.

Johanna Larsson, investigator at the Swedish Gender Equality Agency, agrees and sees the report’s conclusions as a call to action:

“The findings—showing that a narrowly heteronormative understanding of violence constitutes a barrier to LGBTQI+ individuals accessing protection and support—should be seen as a call to the broader work against men’s violence against women and intimate partner violence. We must continue to highlight the complexity of these issues and make dedicated efforts to ensure that those who fall outside the normative image of a victim of violence have their rights upheld.”

Read more (In Swedish)

• "The Day Will Never Come When You and I Are Not Together” – An interview study on LGBTQI+ people’s experiences of intimate partner violence by Anna-Maria Sörberg
• Outside the Norm, Outside the Safety Nets? – A government report mapping LGBTQI+ people's exposure to intimate partner violence and analysing the need for interventions. 
• Violence in LGBTQI+ relationships