PROTECTING LGBTQ FAMILIES, SENIORS, & YOUTH
The study culminates in preliminary recommendations for preventing violence against LGBTQI communities in San Francisco. This executive summary includes key findings in each area of inquiry as well as the overall conclusions drawn from the findings; readers interested in additional information can find greater detail in the full report. OVERALL CONCLUSIONS •
San Francisco’s LGBTQI population has experienced high rates of violence. Despite these findings, many LGBTQIfocused organizations lack funding for violence prevention activities, and violence prevention initiatives rarely include an LGBTQI lens that goes beyond hate violence. Building the capacity of CBOs, public agencies and services, and law enforcement to operate as a culturally competent, coordinated, and trauma-informed system will improve services and experiences for all.
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Violence patterns and disparities within the LGBTQI population suggest that the root causes underlying experiences with violence include racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and other forms of discrimination. A coordinated community approach to tackling racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia should be prioritized as a violence prevention strategy.
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The perception of San Francisco as a progressive, LGBTQI-friendly environment is not enough to keep our communities safe. In fact, this perception can itself be a barrier to the system’s willingness to identify deficiencies and prioritize system transformation to address discrimination. Support services are overtaxed, and violence continues to be a prevalent issue facing LGBTQI community members.
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The San Francisco real estate crisis affects LGBTQI safety in many ways. Lack of affordable rents make both community members and the community based organizations who serve them more vulnerable to displacement. In addition, homelessness disproportionately affects LGBTQI communities.
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There is a clear need to define and prioritize community-based responses to violence in the LGBTQI community. Improving police response to violence against LGBTQI community members through training and increased accountability is important but only part of the solution. The call emerging from these data is a need to build stronger alternatives, providing community-based programs with resources to support their work in preventing and responding to violence.
KEY FINDINGS Perceptions of Community Safety and Connectedness To understand more about the context within which LGBTQI community members live and make decisions about their lives, the survey explored how safe, and how limited by safety concerns, respondents feel in the different aspects of their daily lives. •
Transgender community members—particularly transgender people of color—are more likely than cisgender community members to feel unsafe in most settings—up to 7 times more likely in some settings—and to feel limited by safety concerns about where to live, work, socialize, and get healthcare and other services.
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The lack of affordable housing in San Francisco exacerbates safety concerns for many community members, prompting many to remain in housing or neighborhoods where they don’t feel safe.
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Over one-third (36%) of LGBTQI community members don’t believe that police will help them if needed. Transgender community members, people of color, and those with lower incomes or who have experienced homelessness are least likely to believe that police will come to their aid.
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60% of transgender Latinas feel unsafe walking around during the day—a time when only 12% of LGBTQI respondents overall do.
The stakes can feel very high for reporting or ruffling any feathers because of the housing crisis here; obviously no one wants to lose their housing. LGBTQI Service Provider
Experiences of Violence All three types of violence explored by the community safety survey—physical violence, sexual violence, and harassment—
FAIR SHARE FOR EQUALITY: Third Annual Convening | February 1, 2017
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