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What is sexual assault?

• Sexual assault may include (but is not limited to) forced vaginal or anal penetration, forced oral sex, forced touching, or any additional form of forced sexual activity.
• Sexual assault may occur on a date, between friends, partners or strangers.

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Issues regarding sexual assault that are unique to the LGBTQIA+  community:

• Survivors who are not “out” may find sharing and/or reporting the sexual assault difficult or impossible.
• Due to the lack of awareness surrounding sexual assault the LGBTQIA+ community may make silence appear the only option.
• If the survivor’s community is small, the fear of other’s skepticism and/or people “taking sides” may cause the survivor to keep silent.
• Guilt and self-blame (which are common symptoms of all survivors) may lead to questioning ones sexual identity and sexuality.
• One’s own internalized homophobia may further complicate the complexities of sexual assault.
• Gay/bi male identified survivors may be apprehensive to report and fear being ignored and/or rejected as overly sensitive due to the stereotype that they are promiscuous and invited the assault upon themselves.
• Lesbian/bi women identified survivors may face being ignored or having their claims discarded if their attacker is a female because women are not socially seen as sexual perpetrators.

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Common fears of LGBTQIA+ sexual violence survivors:

• Not being taken seriously or having their experience minimized.
• Not having their experience labeled as sexual assault or rape.
• Having their experience sensationalized.
• Having to explain how the assault happened in more detail than one would ask a survivor of opposite-sex assault.
• Being blamed for the assault.
• Not being understood or being blamed if it happened in an S&M environment.
• Being treated in a homophobic manner by the police, hospital staff or others.
• Mistakenly being perceived as the perpetrator.
• Being “outed.”