“A Victim is a Victim:” LGBT Blindness among Victim Assistance Workers

Michael C Lasala,James P Fedor

doi:10.21428/88de04a1.76224421

Abstract

LGBT crime victims underutilize victim assistance services because they fear secondary victimization by homophobic and insensitive workers and organizations. However, assessment of the perceptions and competence of those working with these populations is largely absent from the literature. To address this gap, we qualitatively investigated 83 victim assistance workers and administrators regarding their practices with LGBT victims. Overall, respondents believed that a victimâs sexual orientation or gender identity was irrelevant, which was well-meaning but potentially perpetuated a type of LGBT cultural blindness to the needs of these populations, not dissimilar to color blindness among some white service providers toward African Americans. Participants questioned the appropriateness of asking about a victimâs sexual orientation or gender identity, had not received training in working with LGBT clients, and felt compelled to hide their clientsâ sexual orientations andÂ gender identities toÂ protect them from hostility within the legal system. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Highlights

Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people are overrepresented among statistics of victims of hate crimes (Buist & Lenning, 2016; FBI, 2016; Messinger, 2020; Roberts et al, 2010)
A service provider from an urban area explained, “If I thought a victim’s sexual orientation was relevant to a case, I would ask them to elaborate on the type of relationship she/he had with the defendant or another victim on a case‐ ONLY if it was relevant.”
A primary purpose of this investigation reflected in the first research question was, how do victim assistance professionals perceive the relationship between a crime victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity with the types of services they provide? For the most part, victim assistance professionals did not believe sexual orientation or gender identity was relevant, or at least not relevant enough to ask about it or overcome their concerns that they would make their clients uncomfortable

Summary

Introduction

Lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people are overrepresented among statistics of victims of hate crimes (Buist & Lenning, 2016; FBI, 2016; Messinger, 2020; Roberts et al, 2010). Herek (2009) explored hate crime and stigma-related experiences among a sample of lesbian, gay male, and bisexual respondents (n=662). In the U.S, it is estimated that approximately two individuals are murdered every month because they act or look transgender (Jauk, 2013), and sexual assault and rape have been among the most documented types of violence against transgender people (Stotzer, 2009). Considering the frequency with which LGBT people are victims of crime and assault, it is reasonable to wonder what, if any, assistance they are receiving. The main objective of this paper is to describe a study of victim-assistance service providers and administrators at seven agencies to understand if, from their perspectives, the sexual orientation or gender identity of victims they served influenced the services they provided

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion