LGBTQIA+ violence victims to receive better service at Safe Center LI due to state program 

A Long Island organization is updating its practices and taking on more training to better serve LGBTQIA+ survivors of domestic and gender-based violence as part of a state program, the group’s leaders said.

The Safe Center LI, a Bethpage-based nonprofit that serves victims of family violence and sexual assault, is one of five agencies, and the only one on the Island, selected to participate in the state’s LGBTQIA+ Endorsement Program.

The voluntary initiative aims to reduce the barriers LGBTQIA+ victims face in seeking help. The New York State Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence launched the one-year pilot in the spring, and it is set to run until March.

“We don't see programming accessible to us, specifically around our LGBTQ identities," said Catherine Shugrue dos Santos, who identifies as a queer woman. She is the deputy executive director for programs at New York City Anti-Violence Project, which consulted on the state's endorsement program.

"Our programming … often focuses on the very real and very important issue — cisgender men harming their cisgender women partners — but leaves out anyone who does not fit into that paradigm," Shugrue dos Santos said.

Abbey Marr, deputy executive director of the Bureau of Gender Based Violence Prevention & Programming at the state Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, said the pilot intends to help service providers become more welcoming.

“How we set up our systems to serve survivors really assumed that survivors were white, cisgender, heterosexual women,” Marr said. “We are working to make sure that we are inclusive and affirming in all the ways that we can be, particularly for those who have faced harm.”

Shugrue dos Santos said LGBTQ people experienced intimate partner violence at the same or higher rates of straight cisgender people.

“That violence is particularly problematic for transgender and gender-nonconforming people and nonbinary people,” she said. “For providers, we would encourage everyone to get trained and get support in creating spaces that are affirming and inclusive for LGBTQ people.”

Of the 6,000 hotline calls The Safe Center received last year, about 5% came from callers who identified as members of the LGBTQIA+ community, said Debbie Lyons, associate executive director at the organization.

“We're likely serving more LGBTQIA+ clients and not necessarily knowing how to ask for that information in a way that they feel safe sharing,” she said. “While we do have some data, I think this program is going to help us really better capture the true number.”

Better data collection is among the list of standards the state laid out for the participants. The program also asks the agencies to examine their internal practices, build partnerships and increase diverse LGBTQIA+ inclusion and representation among their staff and board.

Corinne Giordano, director of multidisciplinary team services at The Safe Center LI, said her team had incorporated  pronoun use in intake introductions. 

Having an environment that is sensitive in language and mirroring how people want to be identified builds trust, she said.

“Having people know that we are educated in those facts, we can expand on the services that we provide,” she said. “We don't make assumptions about family structures. We always believe people and I know that might not have always been true for some people in this community when they are presenting to other systems.”

The other four organizations participating in the state program are YWCA Northeastern NY in Schenectady, Behavioral Health Services North in Plattsburgh, Barrier Free Living in the Bronx and Family Counseling Service of the Finger Lakes.

By Dandan Zou

dandan.zou@newsday.com@DandanZou

Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.