Mon 23 May 2016 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
The Government has announced an increase in funding for sexual violence agencies, pledging $46 million from this year's Budget over the next four years, however an initiative dedicated to building LGBTI communities in Aotearoa New Zealand free of partner and sexual violence, questions whether this will have an effect on LGBTI survivors. New research, funded by It’s Not OK, reveals that people from LGBTI communities are struggling to get the right help after sexual and partner violence. “The barriers start with many of us thinking that the services out there are not for us,” says Hohou Te Rongo Kahukura – Outing Violence project manager, Sandra Dickson. “That’s about how invisible specialist sexual violence services are for lots of people in Rainbow communities, and unfortunately, it’s also about what happens when some people ask for help and receive transphobic, biphobic or homophobic responses.” Included in the research was a survey looking at the experiences of violence and community hui’s that took place around the country, from Whangarei to Dunedin, asking LGBTI communities where they see a need. “We’re very grateful to everyone who came to the hui, answered our survey, or got in touch through our website. The stories of abuse people shared were painful, but maybe what’s even more painful was existing frameworks and responses to partner and sexual violence are inadequate at best and harmful at worst. “For Māori, Pacifica and Asian people from Rainbow communities, there was a real gap around culturally appropriate services as well as services with Rainbow knowledge. There just are not enough kaupapa Māori services out there,” she says. “In one hui, we heard of a trans woman who had called the Police for help after being attacked by her husband. They arrived, her husband lied to them and said he’d just found out she was trans and that’s why he attacked her, the Police left without giving any help,” says Dickson. “We also heard of situations where gay and bisexual men were told they couldn’t be open about their sexuality in survivor support groups, because it might make other (straight) men feel uncomfortable, and people being told their sexual abuse had probably made them gay or trans.” “It’s obvious the sexual violence sector has been doing their best with not enough funding. We just hope that new funding is going to mean completely rethinking how to support people from Rainbow communities. Because what’s happening right now is just not good enough.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 23rd May 2016 - 10:38am