LGBTQ+ people who experience domestic violence are often having to go through it alone, according to new research from Galop and YouGov.
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Two in five said that they had no support from friends or family, with a further three in five getting no professional help.
The study also found that LGBTQ+ domestic abuse survivors face a postcode lottery in terms of being able to access such professional support, with 81 per cent of those who have endured it being in parts of the UK where there are no specialist services for LGBTQ+ people.
“Where I live there is hardly any support, and I would be scared of outing myself if I did get help,” one told Galop, the UK’s leading LGBTQ+ anti-abuse charity.
Many of those who did not try to seek out support said they were unsure of what was actually available to them, with one stating that “non-LGBT+ services looked at me like an alien”.
Trans and non-binary domestic abuse survivors were significantly less likely to have help from their family, with only one in eight receiving support from someone in their family.
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Leni Morris, CEO of Galop, said: “LGBT+ victims of abuse and violence are being let down by the systems in this country. No victim of domestic abuse should be left without support, no matter where they live or who they are.
“LGBT+ people exist outside of large cities, and the abuse that we face does not depend on our postcode. Yet, in many parts of the UK, there are simply no services built for the LGBT+ community. We must ensure that LGBT+ victims of abuse are able to access the support they want and need when and where they need it.
“This report shows there is far more demand for support than there is capacity to provide it – with nine times more LGBT+ victims wanting intensive practical support than were able to get it. With such significant numbers of LGBT+ people unable to access the support they need, we are calling on the UK Government to ensure high quality specialist support services are available to LGBT+ victims of abuse, wherever they are in this country.”
Approximately 2,042 LGBTQ+ people aged 18 and over from across the UK were surveyed from August to September 2022 as part of Galop and YouGov’s nationally representative survey.
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