LGBT+ and Domestic Abuse 

LGBT+ individuals experience domestic abuse like their heterosexual peers

This includes various forms of violence: psychological, physical, sexual, financial, and emotional abuse, as well as forced marriage and ‘honour’-based violence. 

Abusers may exploit a person's sexuality and gender identity to control them. This adds complexity to the issues LGBT+ survivors face, such as: 

• Intimidation and threats to reveal their sexual orientation or gender identity to others. 

• Unwanted disclosure of their gender history, sexual orientation, or HIV status. 

• Undermining a person's identity and instilling guilt about their sexual orientation and gender. 

• Limiting access to LGBT+ spaces. 

• Threatening deportation based on anti-gay laws in their home countries. 

LGBT+ survivors may feel coerced into thinking: 

• No help exists for them because of their identity, or that they deserve the abuse. 

• Misconceptions in society prevent them from recognizing their experiences as domestic abuse. 

Trans-specific abuse can include: 

Trans survivors are often hidden. They may face similar abuse patterns as cisgender individuals, but also unique challenges: 

• Outing a person as trans and revealing their gender history without consent. 

• Deliberately using the wrong pronouns or a person’s ‘deadname’. 

• Forcing someone to present in a gender they do not identify with. 

• Coercing someone against pursuing gender transition, including denying medical treatment or hormones. 

• Ridiculing or objectifying their body. 

• Assaulting modified body parts or forcing exposure of surgical changes. 

• Exploiting internalized fears.