BeSmart
LGBTQ+
Liberate
Liberate www.liberate.gg are the local LGBTQ+ charity – as well as hosting Channel Islands Pride; they offer advice and support as well as providing safe spaces for LGBTQ+ people to meet, socialise and talk. They work with young people in conjunction with the Youth Commission, and you may have met Ellie (Liberate’s CEO) through the lessons they teach in secondary schools. They hold two LGBTQ+ Youth Groups each month and offer support to people if needed; this could be for someone LGBTQ+ or for their family or friends if they are struggling to understand someone’s identity. They are very friendly and are always there to help if you need someone to talk to about sexuality or gender identity.
Without a clear understanding of what makes a relationship healthy young people are likely to tolerate relationships that put them at risk.
LGBTQ+ experiences
LGBTQ+ people may be manipulated into believing that there is no help available to them because they are LGBTQ+. They may also be told that abusive behaviours are ‘normal’ in LGBTQ+ relationships, or that LGBTQ+ cannot experience domestic abuse. Abuse from family members is sometimes not recognised as abuse and written off as a ‘family dispute’ or having ‘different values’. LGBTQ+ people experiencing domestic abuse might feel that domestic abuse services are not for them and may not understand what has happened to them.
Abuse can be:
- Threatening to disclose your romantic or sexual orientation, gender identity, gender history, or HIV status without your consent .
- Coercive and controlling behaviour around your romantic or sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
- Pressuring you to keep your identity or relationship secret.
- Denying that LGBTQ+ people in intimate relationships can experience domestic abuse.
- Isolating you from family, friends, and the LGBTQ+ community.
- Undermining your romantic or sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
- Using your hormones or gender-affirming medication to control.
- Trying to change or suppress your orientation or gender identity.