Today, the United States Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) released guidance on a series of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to inform the intimate partner and sexual violence field about the new nondiscrimination grant condition within the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization of 2013 to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, an queer (LGBTQ) survivors from discrimination.
The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) commends the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), through the leadership of Principal Deputy Director Bea Hanson, for championing the implementation of the new nondiscrimination grant condition to protect LGBTQ survivors.
The Violence Against Women Act, first signed into law in 1994, is the nation’s premiere response to intimate partner violence, sexual violence, dating violence, and stalking. VAWA funding provides critical life-saving services to survivors of intimate partner and sexual violence across the country. For the first time ever, this law explicitly includes LGBTQ survivors of violence. This bill, signed into law one year ago, represents multiple years of continuous work from NCAVP and is a huge victory for not just survivors of violence but also all LGBTQ communities. The law also increases protections for Native survivors, immigrants, communities of color, and students.
This historic legislation came shortly after the Centers for Disease Control released a national prevalence survey showing that lesbian, gay, and bisexual people experience violence at the same or higher rates as heterosexual people. It comes a year after NCAVP found that transgender people experience sexual violence at twice the rate of non-transgender people.
NCAVP will continue to work with the intimate partner and sexual violence field and other LGBTQ organizations to support the implementation of VAWA’s LGBTQ provisions and ensure that LGBTQ survivors have the critical support and services they need to address intimate partner and sexual violence in their lives.