The LGBTQIA+ Survivor Task Force is a collaborative effort of community organizers, partner organizations, and activists in San Diego committed to helping to bridge the gaps in services and barriers to care faced by LGBTQ+ survivors of sexual and relationship violence.
Sexual and Relationship Violence in LGBTQIA+ Communities
Register to gain access to our 1-hour virtual training course for service providers! This training will help direct service providers better support LGBTQIA+ survivors by learning how sexual and relationship violence impacts the community and strategies for providing trauma-informed and culturally responsive care.
Training Objectives:
This trauma-informed training is intended for providers of care, including:
Know Your Rights is a panel on LGBTQIA+ survivors’ legal rights curated by the LGBTQIA+ Survivor Taskforce featuring legal experts Alreen Haeggquist (Haeggquist & Eck LLP), Eric Rico (Staff Attorney at Center for Community Solutions), and Diane Doherty (Executive Director of Your Safe Place, a Family Justice Center).
Please note, this presentation should not be considered legal advice.
Speakers provide highlights and examples in the area of their specialty. The intention is to create awareness of rights and resources that support LGBTQIA+ survivors so they can seek further information when needed.
This presentation will focus on Criminal and Civil resources available for survivors and LGBTQ+ folks as well as rights and protections held by LGBTQ folks and survivors.
Topics discussed include:
The following core values guide the work of the Task Force.
The LGBTQIA+ Survivor Task Force comprises volunteer leaders, encompassing both organizational representatives and individual advocates. Current partners include:
**While some members may be affiliated with specific organizations, it is important to note that individual members serve as volunteers and may not necessarily act as designated representatives of their respective organizations.
The LGBTQIA+ Survivor Task Force was founded by LGBTQ+ survivors, responding to their own experiences of the lack of services and care for survivors that were not cisgender, heterosexual women.
Founders of the Survivor Task Force include Liat Wexler, Walter Castaneda, Christopher Sheehan, and Fernando Lopez. These transgender, non-binary individuals and cisgender men had the shared experience not only of being survivors of sexual and relationship violence but also of being turned away or treated inappropriately by services for survivors. As GBTQ+ people, they recognized that the services for survivors of sexual and relationship violence were overwhelmingly set up to serve cisgender, heterosexual women, and too often failed to appropriately serve LGBTQ+ folks.
These survivors connected with local San Diego agencies and organizations, including Center for Community Solutions, The San Diego LGBT Community Center, and North County Lifeline, to begin the conversation about building a path forward to ensure better care for LGBTQ+ survivors of sexual and relationship violence.
