Human Rights Watch: Anti-gay laws promote vlence, discrimatn St. Vcent

domestic violence lgbt community

The rate of domtic vlence and statistics about abe wh the LGBTQ muny are difficult to terme bee of the high number of unreported s. However, the 2010 Natnal Intimate Partner Vlence and Sexual Vlence Survey found that 44% of lbian women, 61% of bisexual women, 26% of gay men, and 37% of bisexual men experience domtic vlence by an timate partner at some pot their liv.1 One study shows that 30-50% of all transgenr people experienced timate partner vlence their lifetim.2

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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: ANTI-GAY LAWS PROMOTE VLENCE, DISCRIMATN ST. VCENT

A report om Human Rights Watch lls on the ernment of St. Vcent to overturn lonial-era anti-gay laws that have led to a recent wave of vlence and genr discrimatn on the small Caribbean island. * domestic violence lgbt community *

Domtic Vlence Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr, and Queer (LGBTQ) Communi. [18] Further, medil personnel may not thk to qutn a gay or bisexual male about the possibily of domtic vlence when he prents wh physil juri at a hospal. Fear of homophobia and/or transphobia may also lead dividuals to avoid seekg help or may e an dividual to hi his/her LGBTQ inty when munitg wh service provirs.

This is pecially te of trans dividuals and gay and bisexual men, who are equently unable to accs domtic vlence shelters that exclively serve women. Even where a jurisdictn has enacted a genr-ntral statute, the fact that homosexualy is crimalized many jurisdictns, cludg over 80 natns, means that an LGBTQ victim of domtic vlence who attempts to prs charg agast his/her aber may risk prosecutn unr anti-homosexualy laws. Texas which held anti-sodomy laws to be unnstutnal, homosexualy was crimalized several Uned Stat jurisdictns.

Dpe the 1998 crimalizatn of nsensual homosexual terurse and. A 2008 survey revealed that 60% of rponnts between thirty and forty years of age were prepared to e physil vlence agast LGBTQ dividuals, while 97% believed that homosexuals should be isolated om the rt of society. ” 97% percent of all rponnts exprsed nfince that Kazakhstan “do not tolerate” homosexualy.

Lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) people Sat Vcent and the Grenad face bias-motivated vlence and discrimatn their daily life, Human Rights Watch said a report released today. The legislature should repeal the untry’s lonial-era laws that crimalize nsensual same-sex nduct and pass prehensive civil legislatn prohibg discrimatn based on sexual orientatn and genr inty. The 58-page report, “‘They Can Harass Us Bee of the Laws’: Vlence and Discrimatn agast LGBT People Sat Vcent and the Grenad,” expos the physil and verbal asslts, fay vlence, homelsns, workplace harassment, bullyg, and sexual vlence that sexual and genr mori face unr the shadow of discrimatory laws. Those rponsible for mistreatment clu people close to LGBT people – fay members, neighbors, workers, classmat, and teachers – as well as strangers and police officers. * domestic violence lgbt community *

Of those who had reported homophobic or transphobic vlence to the police, nearly 40% received a negative reactn. An LGBTQ dividual who had been beaten by several men suffered a broken arm as a rult, but was ma to wa for medil treatment after a doctor announced, “The gay will be the last to be seen. An Almaty police officer terviewed 2008 exprsed personal homophobic views while explag why the police partment had reported zero homophobic crim.

The officer explaed that the partment did not vtigate homicis mted as a rult of an dividual’s sexualy – typilly classifyg the as accintal aths – bee “[N]o mother will want a public vtigatn of her son’s murr if he was gay.

Though homosexualy is no longer crimalized Kazakhstan as had been sce the enactment of the 1934 Soviet Crimal Co, the natn has not yet taken the important step of cludg sexual orientatn and genr inty as specifilly-protected class, stead referrg only to a prohibn on discrimatn based upon an dividual’s “stat. ” Though Kazakhstan’s domtic vlence law, passed December 2009, genr-ntral language, ostensibly makg available to LGBTQ victims of domtic vlence, the homophobic and transphobic environment of Kazakhstan both wh the private and public spher mak unlikely that LGBTQ victims domtic vlence will be able to effectively utilize the law. Acrdg to the Natnal Coaln of Anti-Vlence Programs, the study found that gay, lbian, and bisexual dividuals were almost twice as likely to experience timate partner vlence than heterosexuals.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* DOMESTIC VIOLENCE LGBT COMMUNITY

Human Rights Watch: Anti-gay laws promote vlence, discrimatn St. Vcent.

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