LGBTQ people face higher rates of poverty, stigma, marginalization, and hate-motivated violence, which put the community at greater risk for sexual assault. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual people experience sexual violence at similar or higher rates than heterosexuals; and a staggering 64% of transgender people have experienced sexual assault in their lifetime. Moreover, the ways in which society both hypersexualizes LGBTQ people and stigmatizes their relationships can lead to intimate partner violence that stems from internalized homophobia and shame. And in other cases, the violence does not stem from internalized homophobia or shame, but, rather, is about power and control, like in heterosexual domestic violence. Yet—in part because of societal anti-LGBT bias—incidents are severely underreported, and there is little conversation about the LGBTQ community’s unique needs when it comes to preventing and addressing domestic and sexual violence. Our presenter will discuss tactics perpetrators use to take advantage of LGBTQ people, as well as the criminal and civil legal remedies available to LGBTQ survivors.
 
Lisa Gilmore is the Principal and Founder of the Illinois Accountability Initiative, which strives to support LGBTQ people in their self-determined efforts to create and sustain accountability practices in local communities, among individuals, and within systems and institutions. She is also a local and national gender-based violence LGBTQ policy consultant. Ms. Gilmore previously served as Director of Education and Victim Advocacy at the Center on Halsted, where she worked to improve systemic responses to highly marginalized survivors of bias and violence. She received her B.A. from MacMurray College and her Master of Education, Human Services, and Counseling from DePaul University.