Tell Us Your Story
Have a great story? We'd like to share it with others in the LGBT community.
Tell UsGifts in Action
Re-thinking LGBTQ domestic violence in Alaska
Did you know that domestic violence happens in same-sex relationships at about the same rate as in straight relationships?
Have you ever considered how homophobia and the lack of legal protection from discrimination might discourage an LGBTQ victim of domestic violence from getting help for fear of being “outed” or did you know that the most common type of male-to-male rape is the rape of a man who is perceived to be gay by a heterosexual man?
These and other facts are highlighted in the curriculum, “Think/Re-Think: Domestic Violence in Bi, Trans, Lesbian and Gay Relationships,” developed by past Pride Foundation grantee, the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (ANDVSA).
In 2008, Pride Foundation awarded ANDVSA a grant to develop a curriculum to help Alaskan direct service workers provide effective care to LGBTQ survivors of domestic violence. Most people know that Alaska is in a state of emergency when it comes to domestic violence and sexual assault. We have the highest incidents of rape and intimate partner violence in the nation.
Last month, the UAA Justice Center reported that 47.6% of Alaskan women had been the victims of intimate partner violence according to their 2010 Alaskan Victimization Survey. And with the launch of his “Choose Respect,” campaign, Governor Sean Parnell has effectively pushed the issue to the center of public policy discussions.
But when it comes to ensuring that LGBTQ people are not excluded from efforts to end this violent epidemic, ANDVSA is on the cutting edge. Last week, ANDVSA’s Patti Bland and Lindsee Acton, took time out of their busy schedules to answer a few questions about their ongoing project:
What inspired you to create a curriculum to address domestic violence and sexual assault within the LGBTQ community?
Several of our direct-service member programs came to us with questions about work with victims from the LGBTQ community. While some national resources existed, we wanted to create something that would speak to the uniqueness of Alaska’s LGBTQ family and the barriers to safety people experience here in Alaska. Working with the Northwest Network in Seattle, WA and our Statewide Training Team, we created a curriculum that we think gives direct service workers an insight into the unique experience of LGBTQ people who come to us for services.
I was most struck by how the curriculum simultaneously shatters myths among LGBTQ people about the prevalence of domestic violence as well as challenges the hetero-centric framework through which most direct-service providers understand how to respond to intimacy partner violence. How have those respective audiences responded to the curriculum?
All of the evaluations that we’ve received have been overwhelmingly positive! Advocates are grateful to add dimension to their perspective on direct service work, while clients appreciate that fact that the advocates they met with are prepared to understand their situation and provide them with appropriate resources. Most importantly, an anti-oppression framework empowers us to challenge the roots of oppression that perpetuate domestic violence and sexual assault.
Where would you like to take this project as a next step?
The curriculum was only the beginning of this project! We plan to continue to incorporate LGBTQ information and resources into all of our training sessions as well as provide resources to our advocates and programs. Currently, we have seen significant strides in community response and would like to provide more technical assistance and advanced training to further mentor our program staff.
What has the Pride Foundation grant meant to you and the work that you have accomplished?
Our Pride Foundation grant made it possible to create the LGBTQ curriculum and enabled us to provide our advocates with Alaska-specific resources. Pride Foundation helped us develop and implement a formal response to domestic and sexual violence within the LGBTQ community and helped us link advocates and people we serve to sources of safety and empowerment. For that, all of us here in Alaska are truly grateful.
To learn more about Pride Foundation’s grants program visit www.pridefoundation.org/grants. For more information about all of ANDVSA’s efforts to end violence and oppression in Alaska, please visit their website at www.andvsa.org.
Tiffany McClain is Pride Foundation’s Regional Development Organizer in Alaska. You can reach her at [email protected].
Donor: Inspired by Matthew Shepard
Guest blogger Lindsey Gregerson is a Pride Foundation donor that was inspired to share her story after attending the Seattle Children’s Theatre’s production of The Laramie Project (a project supported by Pride Foundation).
I started donating to Pride Foundation because I wanted to make sure that our community’s projects continued to flourish and connect with younger generations of LGBT people and allies. Last night, at the opening of The Laramie Project I got to see first hand the impact of my support.
In case you don’t know, The Laramie Project is the story of Matthew Shepard, a gay twenty-one-year-old student at the University of Wyoming who was kidnapped, beaten, tied to a fence, and left to die in the middle of the prairie outside Laramie, Wyoming. The play focuses on the townspeople of Laramie and how the death of Matthew and the surrounding media attention affected their community. The dialogue is taken from real interviews and recording with a wide range of townsfolk including the doctor who cared for both Matthew and one of his murderers, Matthew’s friends, the officer that first responded at the fence that he was bound to and other everyday people. A powerful scene included a statement by Matthew’s father at the sentencing hearing of one of the accused.
Though Matthew was murdered more than decade ago, the story still resonates today as we know we have not eliminated homophobia, nor do I believe that we can ever rest on the laurels that our community activists have helped to secure to date. It’s a powerful reminder of how we must continue to share this story with each other and to young people.
One of set pieces in the play was a fence placed in the background of the stage. That fence represented the place where a young man, preparing for a career in activism, was beaten and left for 18 hours in the Wyoming cold to die. It was an image I will not soon forget.
The first responder was quoted as saying, “…the only part of his face that was not covered in blood was where tears had fallen.”
Thank you to everyone at SCT for their brave and mature performances. Thank you to Pride Foundation for keeping us alive, awake and aware with your support of important projects like this one.
The Laramie Project runs through to July 31st at the Charlotte Martin Theatre in Seattle. Visit www.sct.org for more info.
What’s your story? Help us celebrate 25 years!
Pride Foundation’s history is a collection of stories – your stories. They are stories about challenge, isolation and struggle. And they are stories of community, resilience and triumph.
Visit our special anniversary website at IamPrideFoundation.org and share your story today! What does Pride Foundation mean to you and your local community? Where would you like to see us 25 years from now?
After 25 years of giving together and building community there are literally thousands of stories that show the remarkable progress made in our push for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender equality. We will continue adding stories throughout the year and we hope you will include yours. While there be sure to check out our timeline and the listing of special anniversary events happening around the region throughout the year.
25 Years of Stories
The Idaho Women’s Network has received numerous Pride Foundation grants, including one in the Spring of 2008 for their work to ensure equality for Idaho’s LGBT community. Executive Director, Donna Wade, related this story from their work.“The Idaho Women’s Network is one of the oldest women-led social justice organizations in Idaho and we are proud to work at the connection of traditional women’s rights movement and the gay rights movement. A key step in this movement is to provide basic security in employment,
Taryn from IWN organizing
housing, and accommodation by passing an amendment to the Idaho Human Rights Act to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. During the 2008 legislative session, Idaho Women’s Network took the lead on organizing a rally to pressure legislators into giving the Human Rights Act a public hearing, after it had been denied. In response, we organized a rally at the Capital, which drew a crowd of 60 to 70 supporters who held signs and got attention from significant media sources. Most of all, it provided an entire community- silenced by their legislature- an opportunity to demonstrate and have their voices heard.
We will continue our work with an eye to the future, hoping that in five years, the movement to amend the Idaho Human Rights Act will be strong and visible. We will have established supporters, leaders, and allies in every part of the state and will have been working to pass city non-discrimination policies in several Idaho cities. We will have built a long list of supporters from small and large businesses, to faith-based organizations and religious groups, to individuals and families- all ready to mobilize and put needed pressure on legislators.”
Western States Center of Portland, OR received funding from Pride Foundation in 2009 for their Uniting Communities program, which is building a stronger voice for LGBTQ people of color and stronger alliances between LGBTQ organizations and those organizing communities of color.
In the past 20 years Oregon has faced more than 33 anti-gay ballot measures at the state and local levels. While most of the previous statewide measures were defeated, in 2004 voters approved Measure 36, which banned marriage between same-sex couples. It was a difficult campaign in which the religious Right was able to use race as a wedge. From hiring a person of color as the spokesperson for the campaign to ads that specifically targeted communities of color, the opposition exploited the voices and faces of people of color to project their homophobia. In response The Western States Center’s developed the Family, Community and Sexuality Project to engage communities of color around LGBTQ equality and support organizations in our region fighting attacks on LGBTQ families.
Latinos Unidos Siempre (LUS) is one of the participants of the Family, Community and Sexuality Project. The LUS chapter leaders at McKay High School in Salem reached out to the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) after attending several workshops run by Western States Center and Seattle Young People’s Project. LUS and the GSA then decided to hold a joint leadership retreat where LUS student member Gustavo Ayon shared his journal entries on how he become an ally to LGBTQ students. By creating a safe space, a young Latino man felt comfortable coming out to his peers. This profound story deepened the commitment of the organization and convinced other LUS chapters to collaborate with GSAs in their schools.
It is very difficult to get foundation funds for our LGBTQ work so it was very helpful to get a Pride Foundation grant. It allowed us to develop tools for organizations to assess their LGBTQ inclusivity, and provide trainings on how to integrate LGBTQ members and issues into their programs, culture, personnel, and policies.
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