Stonewall Housing releases booklet to help LGBT domestic violence victims
Stonewall Housing are releasing a booklet to help members of the LGBT community who suffer from domestic violence.
Housing Options for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people experiencing domestic abuse, published in association with the Greater London Domestic Violence Project, the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Domestic Abuse Forum and Broken Rainbow, is a booklet covering abuse itself, legal and housing rights, coping strategies and available resources and support organisations.
It aim is to offer a starting point for victims, survivors and supporters.
Author Maria Sookias said:
“Stonewall Housing receives a huge number of calls about domestic abuse on our helpline.
“Many of our clients feel isolated and desperate and have no idea where to even start to deal with their problems.”
An American study found that 32 percent of gay and bisexual men have been abused by their partners.
Eric Houston of the Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago conducted research about the rate of domestic violence in the gay community and released his findings in a report entitled Intimate Partner Abuse among Gay and Bisexual Men: Risk Correlates and Health Outcomes.
The study looked at not only the rate of abuse, but also examined the effects that such abuse had on the victims suggesting that:
“Men in abusive relationships were more likely to report suffering from serious health problems such as heart disease, hypertension, depression, and anxiety.”
It was also suggested that victims of gay domestic abuse were much less likely to report incidents because of the stigma associated with male-on-male violence leading them to turn to alternative and often unhealthy ways of coping with the problems.
The booklet, which is free, is available as a download from Stonewall Housing’s website:
Stonewall Housing’s Advice Line is on 0207 359 5767.
