If you’re a queer person who has survived violence in a relationship, you may know just how hard it is to find information, support, and resources tailored to queer needs and experiences.
The L.A. LGBT Center created the National Institute on LGBT IPV to help change the landscape for queer survivors, and they recently held their first-ever Survivor Leadership Summit, bringing LGBTQ+ survivor leaders from around the country together. There were artists, activists, nonprofit leaders, and founders from Philly, New Orleans, New York City, St. Louis, Chicago, Las Vegas, California, and more – and I was lucky enough to represent the Steel City there.
I’m Jay Yoder, and I do a lot of projects for Hugh Lane Wellness, led by Executive Director Sarah Rosso. I think a lot of Pittsburgh may not know just how much work Sarah is always doing behind the scenes to connect with policymakers, researchers, and best practice experts around the country to improve services nationally and locally for the most marginalized queer folks – like LGBTQ+ youth and families in foster systems and queer IPV survivors. I have to add that shout-out because without Sarah, this experience wouldn’t have been possible. And it was an amazing one.
Through Sarah’s participation in the Domestic Violence Perspectives of Justice Consortium, a nationally-funded study of how marginalized survivors experience justice, they were able to bring me to the table as a survivor and survivor’s advocate, which led to me applying for and being invited to this Leadership Summit in L.A.
Over the course of the summit, I met leaders from across the country using a variety of approaches to addressing IPV in our communities, from art and personal storytelling, to the nation’s only credentialed LGBTQ+ survivor’s advocacy program, to grassroots community building and direct action, to the founding of new queer and Black-led non-profit collectives. LGBTQ+ survivors are doing so much beautiful work around the country to create safety, healing, and abundance for queer communities.
I also presented some of the work of Hugh Lane, and my workshop: Beyond They Said/They Said: Trauma-Informed Community Conflict Navigation. It was an empowering feeling to have a rich conversation with leaders from around the country about the conflicts that erupt in our communities and to recognize how universal that experience is.
So what does all this mean for Pittsburgh LGBTQ+ IPV survivors? Well, as a first step, Hugh Lane is working with the Women’s Center and Shelter to provide peer-led support groups for LGBTQ+ survivors, and I’m facilitating, and I can share some of what I’ve learned.
Throughout September, you can reach out to mx.jay.yoder@gmail.com or info@hughlane.org and simply say “I’d like info about your IPV support group.”
If you’re a survivor, and you’re not interested in the group, you can still reach out to Hugh Lane for support with things like finding a therapist as a survivor, accessing health care, or help with basic needs like food and housing.
You don’t have to make sense of what you’ve gone through alone.