Government act to reduce same sex domestic abuse

The Government must get inclusive relationship and sex education right to reduce domestic abuse in the LGBT+ communities, say Sarah Champion MP.

THE government has released its Transforming the Response to Domestic Abuse Consultation Response and Draft Bill.

The bill includes £500,000 to build capacity in the charitable sector, raise awareness and improve monitoring and recording practice for LGBT+ victims of Domestic Abuse.

Stonewall research suggests:

♦         That 11% of the LGBT+ population have experienced domestic abuse in the last year; twice as high as the population as a whole (4.5% as recorded by the Crime Survey England and Wales). (ii)

♦         For bisexual women this increases to 13%, and for trans or non-binary people to 19%.(ii)

In SaferLives Spotlight report on LGBT+ people and domestic abuse they found that:

♦         LGBT+ domestic abuse victims are almost twice as likely to have attempted to commit suicide. (iii)

♦         LGBT+ Domestic violence victims are more than twice as likely to have self-harmed. (iii)

In Stonewalls School Report, The experiences of lesbian, gay, bi and trans young people in Britain’s schools in 2017, it was found:

♦         That there was a lack of consistency in LGBT+ representation within RSE.(iv)

♦         That only 13% have learnt about how to have healthy relationships in relation to same-sex relationships. (iv)

Sarah Champion MP said: “I welcome the recognition of the importance of relationship and sex education in the governments’ consultation response today.”

“To reduce domestic abuse in the LGBT+ community, we must ensure that relationship and sex education is inclusive.”

“Sadly, rather than listening to teachers, experts and children, the government appears to have curtailed the level of detail in the draft relationship and sex education guidance to placate a few lobbyists with loud voices. All young LGBT people need to be taught what a healthy relationship is, how to identify when a relationship is abusive and where to get support in an inclusive way. I would be disappointed if the government didn’t address this in the final version of the guidance.”