Casa de Esperanza is a welcoming and affirming organization that supports and provides advocacy and shelter for women in same-sex relationships and transgender women. We are proud of our film My Girlfriend Did It, originally released in 1995, which explores the dynamics of intimate partner violence in lesbian relationships. We continue to challenge ourselves as an organization to engage the entirety of the Latin@ community in the most relevant and inclusive ways.

My Girlfriend Did It – One in four women will experience Intimate Partner Violence (IVP) in their lifetime regardless of sexual orientation, race, socio-economic status, age or educational background. In response to this reality, Casa de Esperanza produced My Girlfriend Did It, a documentary film that explores IPV in lesbian relationships by highlighting the struggles and resilience of women who share the impact of violence in their lives. The first-of-its-kind film was re-released in 2008 in dvd format and is accompanied with a bilingual facilitator’s guide providing definitions, discussion questions, group activities, role plays and case scenarios.

Facts

Here are some facts about domestic violence in LGBTQ communities that were compiled by the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence.

While same-sex battering mirrors heterosexual battering both in type and prevalence, its victims receive fewer protections. [Barnes, P.G. (1998). It's just a quarrel. American Bar Association Journal, 24.]

Same-sex abusers use a form of abuse similar to those of heterosexual batterers, but they also have an additional weapon in the threat of “outing” their partner to family, friends, employers or community. [Lundy, S.E., (Winter, 1993). Abuse that dare not speak its name: Assisting victims of lesbian and gay domestic violence in Massachusetts. New England Law Review, 28.]

Battering among lesbians crosses age, race, class, lifestyle and socio-economic lines. [Lobel, K. (Ed.) (1986). Naming the Violence: Speaking Out About Lesbian Battering. Seattle, WA: Seal

Bisexual victims are likely to be undercounted if the agency from which they seek services constructs the sexual orientation of the victim based on the gender identity of the abusive partner and does not explicitly query victim self- identification. [Fountain, K. & Skolnik, A. (2007). Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Domestic Violence in the United States in 2006: A Report of the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. New York, NY: National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs.

Contact us at ourwork@casadeesperanza.org for more information and visit our Downloads & Links section for more LGBTQ resources and to access the article, A Tool for Reflection: The Realities and Internalized Oppression Faced by Lesbians of Color.