Features
Safety Patrol
Safety Patrol
SafeSpace Counts the Harms Against LGBT Lives
(L to R) Clarke Sheldon, Hannah Hauser, and Connie Beal
by Euan Bear
Almost
no one I know has escaped some kind of violence - even if they don't call
it that - in their lives. But most of us hate to think of it that way,
especially when the fist, the slap, or the kick was thrown by a close
family member or a lover. Much easier to say "violence" when
it's coming from a stranger or an obnoxious neighbor. But they all count
for SafeSpace.
SafeSpace is spreading the word that violence
- whether it's within our communities or from outside them - needs to
be counted. That gay, lesbian, bisexual, trangender and - yes - queer
lives need to count, and not just for us, but within the straight agencies
that deal with violence.
"Our recent work, our social change
mission, is to make sure that queer victims are included in the work of
existing anti-violence agencies," said Program Coordinator Hannah
Hauser in a recent interview (Executive Director Kara DeLeonardis was
on maternity leave while this story was being written). The focus, she
said, is not a shift away from the direct services, such as short-term
counseling and making sure that victims get services they need.
Beyond Gendered Violence
In the past, there was no place for a lesbian
to go when her partner hit her or threatened her. Domestic violence programs
operated on a gender-based model of power: men had physical, economic
and social power; women did not. There was no concept among domestic violence
workers that gay men in abusive relationships might need shelter, or how
to provide it. We just don't fit the gender-violence paradigm.
There is still only one shelter in the state
that welcomes men, in Barre. While the shelter situation isn't changing,
the agencies that provide services are slowly coming to recognize that
domestic violence isn't limited to straight folks. Thanks to SafeSpace
- which is in its third year of service - they're realizing their need
for training on how to deal sensitively with lgbtq families, said Hauser.
From July, 2003 to June 2004, 52 members
of Vermont's LGBTQQ communities called or were referred to SafeSpace,
almost evenly divided between men and women. Transmen made up 10 percent
of the clients, and transwomen were 8 percent. More than a quarter of
the clients reported having a disability. Almost two-thirds of the calls
received were about domestic violence. Another third involved sexual assault.
A fifth of the calls were classified as hate crime reports.
SafeSpace conducted volunteer training
last month in collaboration with the Women's Rape Crisis Center. The structure
represented a huge increase in lgbtq-specific content over last year's
training. Instead of a single two-hour panel on lgbtq issues, three of
the seven training sessions were facilitated by SafeSpace staff. Asked
why Women Helping Battered Women was not collaborating in this year's
joint volunteer training, Volunteer Coordinator Jackie Smith said the
agency had changed its training format to a monthly series. The agency
sent a speaker to the training for a panel of service providers.
Youth Outreach
SafeSpace hired its first Youth Program
Coordinator, Clark Sheldon, this year. Sheldon and staff from the Women's
Rape Crisis Center and Women Helping Battered Women were invited into
high school Health classes to talk about date rape, sexual assault, stalking,
harassment, bullying, and abusive relationships.
"It was tiring, but really good,"
Sheldon remembered. "We were kind of the 'baby' organization, the
little sister to the other two. If there was any hesitation on the teachers'
part about including SafeSpace, I never heard about it. The teachers were
really supportive."
Sheldon has also collaborated with
Outright Vermont in facilitating discussions during their Friday night
groups on any topic of the youths' choosing, including body image, relationships,
racism, homophobia and fat phobia. "These are really broader issues
than domestic and dating violence, but we are able to tie them in,"
Sheldon explained. "They're all about our own beliefs about ourselves
and how society's beliefs affect us."
Hauser and Sheldon agreed that anything
that has a negative effect on self-esteem can encourage a person to stay
in an abusive relationship.
Climate Change
There's also the fact that SafeSpace
has a dual mission: advocating for lgbtq victims of violence - hitting,
kicking, shoving, sexual assault, threats - from within their families
and our communities; and documenting the bias incidents occurring in the
wider community. "We are now collaborating with the LGBTQAA Services
office at UVM, so we will be recording bias incidents on campus, too,"
said Hauser.
Legally, hate crimes involve a threat
of harm directed to someone because of their race, ethnicity, gender,
sexual orientation, and so on. The person making the threat must have
an intent to harm and be capable of carrying out the threat.
"We take a broader view of hate crimes,"
explained Hauser. "The so-called 'minor' incidents enable some of
the really gruesome destruction. The idea is to change the climate that
allows these incidents to happen and to be ignored."
No Paradise
Burlington has long been regarded as a "safe
haven" for lesbians and gay men, a liberal college town with a reputation
for queer and feminist activism and progressive politics and policies.
But as Jackie Weinstock, chair of the SafeSpace board of directors, said,
"Under the surface there are power and control issues. [The city's]
reputation for safety brings people here, but we'd like to earn that reputation.
It doesn't mean we don't have domestic violence or hate crimes."
She continued, "It's about time
we had something like SafeSpace. It took until this decade for the lgbt
community to create an agency to help ourselves when we're in violent
situations. I wish it wasn't needed."
And like most social change organizations,
SafeSpace sees its goal as putting itself out of a job.
SafeSpace's "warmline" (802-658-1996) – is staffed
from 9-9 on Mon. & Thurs. 10-6 Tues., Wed., & Fri. The group is
looking for a web-savvy volunteer to help them make their website "as
gay as possible." Their annual benefit "Healing Laughter"
will be staged on October 23, see the Calendar for details.