The Family Sunshine Center (FSC) joins local and national recognition of Pride Month this June. Every year, countless Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) individuals, organizations, and allies come together to celebrate the freedom to be themselves.
Pride Month is about increasing visibility, equal rights, and building community, while standing against homophobia, violence, and discrimination. Pride Month also commemorates the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City.
FSC recognizes that LGBTQ people are more likely to experience domestic and sexual violence.
- 44% of lesbian women and 61% of bisexual women experience rape, physical violence, or stalking by a current or former intimate partner.
- 40% of gay men and 47% of bisexual men have experienced sexual violence.
Gender, sexual orientation, and transgender identity-based violence impacts not only a survivor’s physical safety, but also their emotional and economic safety.
Abusive partners in LGBTQ relationships use all the same tactics to gain power and control as abusive partners in heterosexual relationships, including physical, sexual, or emotional abuse, financial control, isolation and more. Abusive partners in LGBTQ relationships also reinforce control tactics using societal factors, such as threatening to out the victim. These factors compound the complexity a survivor faces in leaving or getting to safe shelter.
FSC believes that all victims and survivors deserve to be safe. We are committed to creating an environment that provides culturally competent and inclusive services that are non-stigmatizing to all clients regardless of sexual orientation, sex, gender and gender identity or expression. We will continue to fight for equal access to safety and resources for survivors.
If you or someone you know is experiencing or has experienced domestic violence or sexual assault, please call us at 334-263-0218. We can help in a crisis, or you can just call to talk with one of our LGBTQ-trained counselors.
