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LGBTQ Community

SARP is a safe space for the LGBTQ Community. Whoever you are, whatever happene, we are here to help. SARP does not discriminate against anyone based on gender identity, gender presentation, sex, sexuality, sexual preference, race, age, national, ethnicity, or disability. 

Barriers to Reporting

There are several factors that may make it especially difficult for members of the LGBTQ community to report a sexual assault. Survivors may: 
  • Fear being forced to “come out” if they approach their family, the court system, or the police to report 
 
  • Feel that they are betraying the LGBTQ community, which is already under attack, by “accusing” another LGBTQ person of sexual assault 
 
  • Feel that they’re exposing their assailant to a homophobic criminal justice system if they pursue a legal solution 
 
  • Feel that they have nowhere to turn for help and fear hostile responses from police, courts, service providers, and therapists because of homophobia and anti-LGBTQ bias 
 
  • Experience threats of “outing” from their assailants
 
  • Be made to feel that they deserve to be assaulted for being LGBTQ

Statistics

  • In a sample of 412 university students, 16.9% of subjects reported that they were gay, lesbian, or bisexual. Of this percentage, 42.4% reported being forced to have sex against their will, compared to 21.4% of the heterosexuals 
 
  • There were 2, 5522 reported anti LGBTQ incidents in 1998. Of there, 88 were sexual assaults/rapes 
 
  • Studies over the past two decades on lesbian sexual violence show a range from a low of 5% to a high of 57% of respondents claiming that they had experienced attempted or completed sexual assault or rape by another woman, with more finding rates of over 30%
 
  • In a study of 162 gay men and 11 1 lesbians, 52% reported at least one incident of sexual coercion by same-sex partners 15% of men who lived with a man as a couple reported being raped/assaulted or stalked by their male cohabitant
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