What Does Violence Look Like?

The Wingspan Anti-Violence Programs address all types of violence.

Call the Crisis Line or come by the office if you have questions, need someone to talk to, or are concerned about a friend or family member.
We will listen and offer support.

What Does Intimate Partner Abuse Look Like?

Intimate Partner Abuse can look like a girlfriend not allowing her partner to spend time with her family or her friends. It can look like one partner being afraid of the other or their actions. It can look like a jealous boyfriend or forced sexual contact. It can look like one partner having exclusive access to finances, or a couple where one partner looks through the other’s phone calls for texts.

Intimate Partner Abuse can take many forms, and it does not always have to include physical violence. Intimate Partner Abuse is a pattern of coercive and controlling behaviors and tactics used by one person to gain power and control over the other.

This kind of abuse an often leaves a survivor with diminished self-esteem because the controlling partner has manipulated them into believing they are undeserving. A victim of this violence may feel completely alone and dependent on the abusive partner because the partner has eliminated the other’s support system.

Intimate Partner Abuse can happen to anyone. Statistics prove that Intimate Partner Abuse happens at the same rate in same sex couples as it does in heterosexual couples, and it does not discriminate by race, income level, or age.

LGBT inclusive community support and resources exist for those experiencing these types of violence.

What Does Sexual Violence Look Like?

Sexual Violence can look like someone being pressured to do something sexually that they would not freely chose to do. Sexual Violence can be unwanted touching, remarks or comments that make a person feel uncomfortable.

Even in a committed relationship, Sexual Violence can occur. Just because a person has said yes once does not mean that they have given their permission every time thereafter.

Sexual Violence can look like one person shaming the other for their sexual experience or inexperience. Sexual Violence can be used as a tool of manipulation of other situations. A survivor of Intimate Partner Abuse may experience Sexual Violence as a tactic that the abusive partner uses to gain power and control. Sexual Violence may be used a tactic in bias motivated or hate crimes.

LGBT inclusive community support and resources exist for those experiencing these types of violence.

What Does Harassment/Discrimination Look Like?

Harassment and Discrimination can occur on a continuum with varying levels and intensities. It can be a subtle form of Harassment such as name-calling, but it can escalate to constant teasing that includes threats. The bullying can become life-threatening when the abuse gets physical or the victim harms themselves to deal with the pain.

Harassment and Discrimination can look like teachers at schools refusing to extinguish hate speech in the hallways or classrooms. A person living in daily fear of losing their job because their boss regularly engages in anti-LGBT conversations creates a hostile work environment and can have very harmful effects. LGBT people sometimes fear losing housing or accommodations due to Discrimination.

When someone is a victim of Harassment or Discrimination it makes it very difficult for a person to be themselves. Often times, people might feel like they have to have very separate lives and have to constantly be looking over their shoulder.

Not feeling free to be ourselves and express our identities takes a toll on our emotional health and our ability to flourish in our schools, our work places, and our neighborhoods. LGBT people sometimes fear losing housing or accommodations due to Discrimination.

LGBT inclusive community support and resources exist for those experiencing these types of violence.

What Does Bias-Motivated Violence Look Like?

Bias-Motivated Violence (also known as Hate Violence) is an attack motivated by prejudice against the victim’s actual or perceived identity, including sexual orientation, race, gender, gender expression, age, disability, national origin, religion, or ethnicity.

Bias-Motivated Violence is not only an attack on the targeted person, but is also a tactic used to instill fear in an entire community. Bias-Motivated Violence can include acts of vandalism and hate speech and derogatory language aimed at a certain group of people.