Same-sex Domestic Violence 'Warm Line' Receives Funding

by Barbara Dozetos

Photo: Bill Lippert of the Samara Foundation of Vermont presents Celia Cuddy, executive director of the Women's Rape Crisis Center a $2000 grant.

Celia Cuddy, Executive Director of the Women's Rape Crisis Center accepted the $2000 grant from Bill Lippert, executive director of the Samara Foundation of Vermont.

photo: Barbara Dozetos

Victims of same-gender domestic and sexual violence in Chittenden County will soon have a new resource backed financially by a fund that supports the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community in Vermont.

The Same Sex Domestic and Sexual Violence Subcommittee of the Chittenden County Domestic Violence Task Force recently received a $2000 grant from the Samara Foundation of Vermont to develop a phone line for survivors of same-sex domestic and sexual violence. The service is referred to as a Îwarm line’ because it will not be staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as a hotline would be.

Celia Cuddy, executive director of the Women’s Rape Crisis Center, and a self-described lesbian survivor of same-sex domestic violence, told a press conference in August that violence occurs in somewhere between a quarter and a third of all relationships. “Members of our community are not immune to the difficulties in our culture,” she said. “No person should experience violence in a relationship.”

The Rape Crisis Center operates a hotline in Chittenden County. According to Cuddy, 15 percent of their calls come from people who are assaulted by a partner. Last year, the hotline received at 25 calls from men who had been raped or battered by men, and more than 50 resulted from women attacking other women.

Same-sex violence can be a hate crime, Cuddy told the crowd. A presumably straight man will rape a man perceived to be gay, claiming to give the victim “what he is asking for.”

Currently, the only resource for individuals who suffer same-gender domestic attacks or rape is to call the rape crisis hotlines. While those lines are usually eager to help, Cuddy said it is critical to establish the visibility of the warm line directed at same-sex abuse.

“Too many gays and lesbians have endured violence alone,” she said. The stigma of being abused by a member of the same gender keeps most victims in the GLBT community from seeking help. She said many people call the existing hotlines saying, “I don’t know if I’m calling the right place” or “I don’t know if it was rape.”

Public awareness, said Cuddy, is the first step: to let the community know the line exists and that same-sex domestic violence or rape is as much a crime as that between members of opposite sexes.

The warm line will be staffed by people sensitive to the situations and needs of gay men and lesbians. This service will complement the rape and domestic abuse resources already available, often referring victims to the same places another line would send them. The difference, said Cuddy, is that the victims will know when they call that they will be speaking to someone with specialized training who will provide them with information and “absolute support, regardless of who you are and who you love.”

Speaking from personal expereince, Cuddy said the most important aspect of this effort was to get the word out. “This would have told me that I wasn’t alone,” she said. “That’s precious to any survivor.”

The grant from the Samara Foundation allows the Task Force to hire someone to research other similar operations and plan the implementation of the project. The warm line will be Chittenden County based, but the Samara Foundation also awarded money to the Women’s Crisis Center in Brattleboro for similar purposes. “We hope this will lead to a coordinated effort to deal with this statewide need.”

The warm line will be operational sometime in 2001. The timeline for the project is expected to be finalized by the end of this year. In the meantime, victims of same gender abuse and violence may still make use of the rape crisis hotline.