Supporting LGBTQ Survivors

This toolkit discusses the unique opportunities in LGBTQ communities for engaging friends and family in advocacy and provides advocates with practical strategies for doing so.

This targeted recommendation pushes for domestic violence organizations to expand their analysis of advocacy and violence prevention to include both economic and educational advocacy. 

This targeted recommendation highlights the historic challenges with law enforcement that domestic violence survivors, and especially diverse LGBTQ survivors, experience. This recommendation outlines considerations for mainstream and culturally-specific organizations regarding their referrals to law enforcement given this history of harm.

We have an ethical mandate to serve all survivors of sexual violence. Yet lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) survivors have often been excluded from our work.

This article gives a very basic introduction to transgender sexual violence survivors, then lists 10 practical ways programs can provide more culturally-competent services.

This guide contains ten quick tips for service providers working for trans inclusion.

This guide offers tips for service providers in addressing one of the most serious health issues for gay, bisexual, and transgender (GBT) men. Includes guidelines for education, workplace environment, assessment, response, and safety planning.

This fact sheet provides information related to safety planning with transgender and gender non-conforming individuals who are experiencing intimate partner violence. The fact sheet includes components of safety planning as well as information on ways safety planning with transgender and gender non-conforming individuals differ from safety planning with non-transgender clients.

This webinar reviews core components of intimate partner violence and safety planning; provides information on transgender-specific abuse tactics and planning strategies; offers many transgender-specific examples and potential solutions; and provides a tool for working with clients who seek to reduce harm or leave an abusive relationship.

This fact sheet explains the importance of service providers knowing why they are required to ask specific questions, and explaining to survivors what information the agency is trying to find out with the questions. This is particularly important when working with trans individuals.

This guide contains information for advocates on identifying and working with LGBT specific elder abuse. The guide covers terms, historical factors related to LGBT elders, new rights and protections for LGBT elders and suggested practices in working with LGBT older adults.

These recommendations for best practices for serving LGBT homeless youth include three sections. The first section consists of steps individuals who have regular direct contact with youth can take to improve experiences of LGBT youth in accessing services. The second section provides information on steps to improve agency-wide culture and effectiveness in serving LGBT youth. The third section outlines specific steps for administrators and youth workers to improve experiences of youth in residential settings such as emergency shelters and longer term transitional living.

This paper offers guideposts for responding to the needs of male-identified victims of intimate partner violence. It is meant to be a resource to foster meaningful dialogue around supporting inclusive services for all victims and survivors seeking safety and healing.

This brochure includes key terms and definitions, highlights the prevalence of violence against Native LGBTQ/Two-Spirit individuals, and offers tips for supporting Native LGBTQ/Two-Spirit survivors of domestic and sexual violence.

This report shares themes and issues from the Racial & Economic Equity for Survivors Project's 2017 listening sessions in order to aid in self-reflection, challenge dominant narratives, support improved data collection and analysis, and to begin, continue, or advance conversations and work toward racial equity for domestic and sexual violence survivors.

This checklist includes can be used to conduct a quick organizational audit of LGBT visibility and inclusion in agency physical space, policies and outreach materials.

This newsletter focuses exclusively on issues related to violence in LGBTIQ communities. Articles include information on interrupting problematic language, addressing the needs of trans survivors, and SANE protocol.

This tip sheet contains information for service providers on creating a trans welcoming environment.

This checklist is a first step for agencies to use while evaluating whether their polices and practices are inclusive to transgender people.

This report focuses on the agencies who have integrated or are in the process of integrating transgender and gender nonconforming individuals, as well as men, into their domestic violence shelters.

This factsheet provides information on the importance of universal design, or designing for the largest audience possible.

This fact sheet explains the importance of service providers knowing why they are required to ask specific questions, and explaining to survivors what information the agency is trying to find out with the questions. This is particularly important when working with trans individuals.

This guidance document supports FVPSA grantees in determining the best ways to collect sexual orientation and gender identity data of survivors given the agency’s unique strengths, needs, and community context.

This targeted recommendation outlines the rationale for why domestic violence agencies should collect sexual orientation and gender identity data on the survivors they serve. It outlines recommendations for doing so accurately and responsively for DV agencies, providers, and researchers.

Demonstrate Access is a free resource website with ideas and tools for community-based service organizations. It is designed to help providers and organizations identify barriers and make changes in policy and practice to increase access for LGBTQ communities.

This targeted recommendation offers practical ways that domestic violence shelter programs can improve the privacy of survivors from policy changes to building remodeling to increase access to shelter for LGBTQ survivors.

This targeted recommendation advocates for LGBTQ organizations to be fairly compensated (either monetarily or materially) for formal and informal training and TA support given to mainstream domestic violence organizations.

This targeted recommendation advocates for domestic violence and anti-violence non-profits to address the lack of LGBTQ staff by ensuring family-provider wages for all employees.

Young people ages 12-24 experience violent crime at higher rates than the rest of the population. This targeted recommendation provides considerations and strategies for creating youth programming that lifts up the self-determination of LGBTQ youth experiencing violence.

This targeted recommendation from the National LGBTQ Institute on IPV outlines the rationale for researchers, funders, and LGBTQ-specific programs to conduct research and build evidence of the effectiveness of their work.

The Building Dignity website offers a range of solutions and strategies for domestic violence emergency shelters to increase their capacity to provide supportive housing for all survivors, including LGBTQ survivors.

This report outlines the findings of a study with 24 LGBTQ culturally-specific domestic violence and anti-violence agencies across the country. The study examined the unique services and approaches of programs that are “by & for” LGBTQ communities.

People within American Indian, Alaska Native, and other Native communities who identify as LGBT or two-spirit often face high rates of stigma, violence, and historical trauma, and health and human services often do not fully address their needs.

This report shares themes and issues from the Racial & Economic Equity for Survivors Project's 2017 listening sessions in order to aid in self-reflection, challenge dominant narratives, support improved data collection and analysis, and to begin, continue, or advance conversations and work toward racial equity for domestic and sexual violence survivors.

This community report highlights trans and gender non-conforming (TGNC) New Yorkers' experiences facing employment discrimination in the city. 

This fact shest contains information for youth and adults about ways to get involved, show support and learn more about violence and harassment against LGBT individuals.

This self-help guide for LGBT older adults, their caregivers, and their loved ones provides information on preventing, recognizing, and addressing elder abuse. The guide covers topics including types of elder abuse, LGBT specific tactics, ways to protect yourself from elder abuse, information on protecting friends from elder abuse, and getting help when you suspect abuse.

This publication provides conversation approaches and talking points to help allies build and sustain solid, lasting support for nondiscrimination laws, and also factually and effectively address concerns that might be raised when discussing the need for such laws.

This brochure includes key terms and definitions, highlights the prevalence of violence against Native LGBTQ/Two-Spirit individuals, and offers tips for supporting Native LGBTQ/Two-Spirit survivors of domestic and sexual violence.

This toolkit contains resources to support tribal equity of two spirit and LGBT people. Topics covered include marriage, domestic partnerships and civil unions, children, employment, housing, education, health and end of life care, and hate and bias related crimes. Tribal Equity Toolkit 2.0 includes updates and more resources.

This targeted recommendation urges both mainstream and LGBTQ specific service providers to actively consider the negative systemic impacts of law enforcement and the criminal legal system on communities at the margins. 

This targeted recommendation urges youth-serving organizations to consider the various unintended consequences of mandatory reporting policies, particularly for LGBTQ and other systemically marginalized youth.

This report summarizes a study of over 3600 domestic violence survivors that examined their experience of mandatory reporting and explored how mandatory reporting affected their help-seeking strategies and overall wellbeing.

The site provides a number of links to additional information about school district polices and procedures as well as policy recommendations and model statutory code language for promoting LGBTQ inclusion and preventing and responding to bullying.

This publication provides conversation approaches and talking points to help allies build and sustain solid, lasting support for nondiscrimination laws, and also factually and effectively address concerns that might be raised when discussing the need for such laws.