ablackwomansurvivingrape:

The Black queer community, however, is still waiting to have our day in court. Unfortunately, homophobia has removed the agency for the protection of LGBTQ bodies, rendering the inability for us to seek help or justice

Whether it be the light passing of the hand across your butt as someone tries to move towards the bar or the overt grabbing of your genitals when standing in the bathroom, sexual violence is something many in our community deal with regularly. The problem is there is no place for our outcry. It happens so often that we have just become numb to the abuse as it slowly becomes a dangerous norm. It feels like we have to tolerate it to protect our own safety.

The CDC’s National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey found several horrifically damning statistics surrounding sexual violence towards LGBTQ people.

44 percent of lesbians and 61 percent of bisexual women experience rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner, compared to 35 percent of heterosexual women.

40 percent of gay men and 47 percent of bisexual men have experienced sexual violence other than rape, compared to 21 percent of heterosexual men

The 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey found that 47 percent of transgender people are sexually assaulted at some point in their lifetime.