Although sexual assault is often viewed as violence perpetrated by a man against a woman, the same trauma experienced by those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning often goes unreported.
""There's such a small amount of research out there on that that I don't think anyone is well-versed on statistics or how often it is happening,"" Robin Matthies, interim director of UW-Madison's LGBT Campus Center said. ""And there's a lot of stereotypes that this doesn't happen within the LGBT community and especially within relationships. It's sort of an invisible problem.""
She said researchers tend to leave out the LGBT population when studying domestic violence and sexual assault, thereby setting the community apart and rendering them invisible.
""For the most part, this is something that is not researched enough and it's a shame because people are suffering from being victims of intimate partner violence and sexual assault within the community,"" Matthies said. ""And there's different means to address some of the issues that LGBT people would face versus heterosexually identified people.""
Overcoming barriers
Matthies spoke generally about potential barriers that prevent someone from the LGBT community from reporting a sexual assault to the police both on and off campus.
She said people who identify as LGBT may be more timid about going to police because stories in the media at times perpetuate the image of unfair treatment of the LGBT community by officers. Matthies said she would like to say the UW Police Department is doing its best. However, she still noted an ""overarching uncomfortability"" around police, specifically for victims who do not fit into societal gender norms.
Lieutenant Peter Ystenes of the UWPD said the protocol for assisting all sexual assault victims is the same regardless of gender orientation.
""If it is brought to our attention by the victim that there was a sexual assault we do everything in our power, and our first concentration is the safety and well being of that person,"" Ystenes said. He added that UWPD might try to connect an LGBT student to other support groups in addition to advocates on campus.
This method is not uncommon at UW-Madison, where the Dean of Students Office also offers the same options to all victims of sexual assault. Still, informal connections throughout campus allow those like Tonya Schmidt, an assistant dean in the Division of Student Life, to seek additional help for students outside the counseling or student judicial process the university offers.
""If I'm serving as the resource assistance person to a male who is not out, I don't have anything to offer him in that area,"" Schmidt said. ""I can't tell him what it's like to be a gay man. I can't tell him what it was like for me as a gay man to come out to my parents or friends. I need to make sure I get him connected with somebody else who knows.""
Schmidt said students who are out and have good support networks do not always need this form of help, though it may play an important role for students who are not out and do not have that support.
Larry Davis is the associate residence life director who works with diversity programs in university housing. He is also a gay administrator on campus who has assisted a number of male students after they were sexually assaulted.
He said whether LGBT students report a sexual assault may depend both on if they have come out and if they are worried about how they may be treated as members of the LGBT community.
""I think sometimes people assume that if you identify as LGBT that that automatically means you're sexually active and sexually promiscuous and all of that stuff and that's clearly not the case,"" he said. ""So I think students are sometimes worried about the assumptions people will make if they are sexually assaulted.""
Keeping this in mind, he said, the university may involve UWPD officers, counselors or housing staffers who identify as LGBT to help victims decide how they would like to move forward with the case.
Looking Forward
Still, Schmidt said there is room for improvement in the resources offered on campus.
""The sexual assault field is filled with women. We're typically the victims,"" she said. ""It's not to say that there can't be male victims. It's not to say that there can't be female victims that identify as a lesbian or trangender, but it's mostly women. So there are lots of resources [for women].""
Educating the campus about sexual assault within the LGBT community is not written explicitly into any job description, but rather requires the time and effort of various people around campus in addition to their other commitments.
Last year a group of UW employees, including Schmidt, offered a day-long training on working with students from the LGBT community who were sexually assaulted.
""We didn't do it again this year,"" Schmidt said. ""Some of these trainings are a committed four or five people really who think the information is important and have time to do it. And the next semester rolls around and there might not be time because it is above and beyond in the work that we do.""
Matthies said it would take a campus-wide effort to bring the issue to the forefront and gather resources and information.
""I don't think it's what one person can do but what a lot of people can do,"" she said.
