Violence against gay men and lesbians

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Private Lives: A report on the health and wellbeing of GLBTI Australians 2006

In all, 5476 people between 16 and 92 years of age (mean age 34) completed the on-line survey. Of the sample 63% were male and 35% were female; just over half (52%) identified as a "gay man", 18% as "lesbian" and 10% as "bisexual". There were 100 transgender and 18 intersex participants. The reported rates of rape or sexual assault were:

• Males - rape 4.1%, sexual assault 3.7%
• Females - rape 2.5%, sexual assault 2.7%
• Trans-males - rape 8.8%, sexual assault 8.8%
• Trans-females - rape 18.2%, sexual assault 10.6%
• Intersex males - rape 8.2%, sexual assault 8.2%
• Intersex females - sexual assault 28.6%

Download: Private Lives: A report on the health and wellbeing of GLBTI Australians 2006 ( 979Kb )

Source: The Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society

Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education

The number of sexual assaults that are hate crimes is, unknown; it is sometimes difficult for lesbians or gays to discern whether they were attacked because of being identified as homosexual. Also, victims of sexual assault may not wish to report that the assault was a hate crime because they may not want to identify themselves as homosexual to police or medical personnel, fearing discrimination.

• Approximately ten percent of hate crimes against gay men and lesbians include sexual assault.
• Gays and lesbians are victims of hate crimes six times more often than Jews or Hispanics and twice as often as blacks, but it is not known whether the proportions are the same for hate-motivated sexual assaults.
• The number of lesbians responsible for acquaintance or partner rape is probably low, since 90% of sexual offenders are male; nevertheless, it certainly exists.

Source: Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education

This is not an exhaustive list of research in the area of family violence and sexual assault, merely a starting point. As the locations of web pages often change, many of these reports have been made available through this page to assist readers. Please note that these pdfs may not contain the latest version or any recent changes so it is recommended that researchers check the author's website for updates, suplements or amendments. All published details correct as at Sept 2011.

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Disclaimer Copyright Updated: 3 Oct 2011