Transgender, non-binary abuse victims asked for experiences with police

Monday, 19 September 2022

Calling the police can feel inaccessible for members of the Rainbow community, creating further isolation.

Transgender and non-binary people are among those being asked to take part in a survey that seeks to find out more about how police are responding to family and sexual violence in New Zealand.

The survey, facilitated by the domestic abuse survivors' organisation The Backbone Collective, also wants to hear from victims who chose not to contact police, and why.

The goal is to ensure any new initiatives developed by the police will best serve women, trans and non-binary survivors, and as such wants to better understand the experiences of gender diverse people and sexuality diverse women.

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'We know we have higher rates of violence in takatāpui and rainbow communities,' Sandra Dickson, a spokesperson from the Rainbow anti-violence group Hohou Te Rongo Kahukura.

Hohou te Rongo Kahukura Project Lead Sandra Dickson says discrimination is a real fear for Rainbow communities.

'But for most people in our community, if experiencing violence at home, calling the police doesn't feel that accessible. Maybe they've had negative experiences in the past - or they've heard stories from other members of the community - and that impacts on their willingness to engage.'

For anyone, reporting domestic abuse comes with well-known barriers. For many victims, this includes feelings of fear, shame, and guilt - and in some cases there's also practical difficulties, like safely accessing a phone, or being unable to afford court fees, or struggling to find a rental property.

But for gender and sexuality diverse people, there are extra complications to grapple with, including the fear of being discriminated against.

Police have hired diversity liaison officers and provide some training to frontline officers on diversity.

'Imagine going to call the police but having to worry that the officer will assume you are the perpetrator simply because you're more masculine than your partner.'

Dickson says often, takatāpui and rainbow survivors are fearful that disclosing abuse will force them to come out to others around them, when they might not want to.

'If you live in a rural town and no one knows the 'roommate' you live with is your partner; or no one at your work knows; or within your rental situation knows; and to seek help you have to disclose that? That's a real barrier.'

Dickson says while there are indications that police responses are improving - for example with the provision of diversity liaison officers - there are still too many stories where trans people are misgendered or survivors are treated without respect.

'We have seen changes, for example if a trans woman is being assaulted by her husband, and he says that's because he's found out she's trans, that will no longer be treated as an excuse,' she says.

'But there's still trans people being misgendered or being told to bugger off. There's still situations where same-sex couples are both treated as the perpetrator, because the police haven't asked the right questions to work out what's going on. And it's not good enough.'

Dickson said equally, there had been some headway made recently in collating the experiences of people with diverse sexualities - for example the last two Crime and Victims survey including questions on sexuality.

It showed, for example, that bisexual people were eight times more likely to be sexually assaulted than other New Zealanders.

But the same survey had not asked about gender diversity, even though all the evidence showed trans and non-binary people are also more likely to experience violence.

To take part in the survey click here.