Groundbreaking new study from the LGBT Center finally gathers data on harassment, fear, and violence in SF.
By Marke B.
FEBRUARY 10, 2015 — For the first time, levels of violence, harassment, and fear experienced in San Francisco’s LGBT community have been quantitatively measured. A groundbreaking new study from the SF LGBT Center (in partnership with the San Francisco Human Rights Commission and Learning for Action group) is being released to today, and the results reported within are dismaying.
“San Francisco still has this reputation as a welcoming, safe enclave for LGBT people, but what we’ve found in our study is that that is far from true for all LGBT residents,” Rebecca Rolfe, executive director of the LGBT Center and architect, along with special projects manager Evan Knopf, of the study told me.
“The numbers will come as a shock to anyone who thinks we’ve somehow ‘moved beyond’ the need for services and action dedicated to keeping LGBT people safe in their own neighborhoods.”
Titled the LGBTQI Violence Prevention Needs Assessment, the study analyzes survey data from 400 participants, including in-depth and bilingual interviews. Among the more sobering findings:
**68% of the community has experienced physical violence, 48% sexual violence, 81% harassment — and a full one-third all three. (For transgender people, those numbers jump 17%.)
**Transgender community members are seven times more likely than non-transgender people to feel unsafe in everyday settings: 60% of transgender Latinas feel unsafe walking around during the day.
**Lack of affordable housing is forcing many LGBT people to stay in unsafe housing situations or areas where they feel in danger.
**Mistrust of the police among LGBT people is high — 36% of respondents do not think reporting incidents will be effective. Many do not report: 44% physical, 46% sexual, and 62% harassment incidents go unreported. Distrust of the police is highest among transgender people, those in poverty, and those who have experienced homelessness.
**Support services for survivors aren’t well-equipped to address intersectionalities of LGBT needs and identities, and lack of knowledge of services is the greatest barrier to seeking help.
The study is careful not to prescribe any policy directions, although it does point out paths to increased effectiveness. For instance, “Violence prevention strategies are most effective when they involve the direct participation of members of the community they aim to serve,” the report says.
“We wanted to focus first on gathering the hard data, since this is the first time anyone has set out to do that,” Rolfe told me. “Once we have the extent of the problem established, we’re hoping that service agencies and policymakers will use the report to move forward on steps to make the San Francisco LGBT community safer.”
Hopefully the report will spur immediate action. In a city where transgender woman Taja de Jesus was found stabbed to death in a Bayview apartment building stairwell on Feb 1 (the fourth transgender woman of color to be murdered in the US already this year), where 29% of homeless citizens identify as LGBTQ, and where it’s taken years to open a small LGBT-specific safe shelter, the need is pressing, as emphasized by the sheer numbers of queer people who continue to experience violence and fear.
You can read the full report here. Below is the press release.
Report Shows Elevated Violence in the LGBTQI Community
New data provides a qualitative look at how the community perceives and experiences violence, to help inform violence prevention strategies
February 10, 2015
Together with the SF Human Rights Commission and Learning for Action, the SF LGBT Center has released a Violence Prevention Needs Assessment detailing how members of the LGBTQI community perceive and experience violence and the availability of resources. Commissioned in light of highly publicized attacks against the community, the assessment is meant to inform both local and national decision makers.
“Historically, there has been very little data collected on the LGBTQI community.” said Rebecca Rolfe, executive director of the SF LGBT Center. “This report gives us a deeper lens on what’s actually happening and how we can effectively address it.” With over 400 respondents, the team employed interviews, surveys, focus groups and literature review to put together the report.
“This unique report sheds light on the myriad types of violence that continue to affect LGBTQI people across San Francisco,” said Theresa Sparks, Director of the SF Human Rights Commission. “It’s important because it goes beyond hate violence and looks at physical violence, sexual violence and harassment more broadly. The information will help the HRC develop datadriven violence prevention strategies that work for our diverse communities.”
San Francisco City Supervisor David Campos said: “The more information we have to draw from, the better we’re able to come up with a holistic approach that brings together different agencies and addresses the violence problem closer to the core. Now is the time to address this problem.”
The report focused on four main areas affecting the community:
(1) Perceptions of community safety and connectedness: the lack of affordable housing in SF has exacerbated safety concerns, coupled with a high level of mistrust in police. In particular, transgender members of the community especially those of color are 7 times more likely to feel unsafe and limited by safety concerns.
(2) Experiences of violence: High proportions of the community have experienced physical violence, sexual violence and harassment, with numbers particularly high for transgender individuals. A substantial portion of respondents chose not to report the incidents.
(3) Services for survivors of violence: Survivors are more likely to reach out to informal services (family, friends) than formalized ones. Support services on the other hand, aren’t well equipped to handle the needs of respondents and are often not visible enough.
(4) Violence prevention: The landscape of violence prevention is a difficult one to define, given institutionalized issues such as lack of funding and task forces to help push the effort forward. Proposed strategies must include direct participation from the community.
Despite San Francisco’s standing as the symbolic heart of the LGBT community, we are not immune to the homophobia, transphobia and other forms of discrimination that exist today. This report confirms the prevalence and impact of violence on the LGBT community and lays the foundation for effective violence prevention strategies to take root and ensure the safety of the community.
“Too much of the violence we experience has become a routine and unremarkable aspect of our day to day lives,” said Commissioner Susan B. Christian, SF Human Rights Commission Chair. “Studies like this are important because they allow us to step back, assess our experiences and regain perspective on what our lives can be and should be. The HRC is grateful for the hard work and commitment of the SF LGBT Center and all the LGBT health and social service providers that participated in this report. We will take a close look at the findings and recommendations and work to address service gaps at the local level.”
Find a copy of the full report at www.sfcenter.org/violencereport.
