PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
DOMESTIC ABUSE IN THE LGBT COMMUNITY (18 December 2014)

That this House believes that domestic abuse is a considerable issue for heterosexual, bisexual, lesbian and gay people and in the trans and non-trans community; notes that according to Stonewall's Prescription for Change, published in 2008, one in four lesbian and bisexual women have experienced domestic violence, the same proportion as heterosexual non-trans women, that according to the Stonewall Gay and Bisexual Men's Health Survey 2011, half of gay and bisexual men have experienced some form of domestic abuse and that according to the Scottish Trans Alliance survey, Out of Sight, Out of Mind, published in 2010, 80 per cent of the Scottish trans community have experienced domestic abuse; further notes that the Government, local councils and the police often fail to direct sufficient focus and address the needs of this diverse population of survivors, there being hardly any specialist refuge provision for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gender (LGBT) population in the UK, with women's refuges insufficiently developed to accommodate, assess risks or identify the needs of GBT survivors; and resolves that, as part of a broader programme to improve provision for all domestic abuse survivors, the Government should give consideration to the needs of LGBT survivors by improving guidance to local housing authorities to highlight LGBT-specific services and needs, expanding the provision of emergency accommodation to address the unique needs of LGBT survivors and committing ring-fenced funding for LGBT refuges, as the Home Office has already done with respect to women's refuges.

Sponsored by:
Sarah Champion (Labour)