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DSVS Vision: Peaceful, thriving, powerful communities where all people are safe and free from oppression, fear, and violence.
DFS Equity Impact Statement: “The Department of Family Services (DFS) is committed to addressing institutional racism in its core responsibility to support the safety, health, and wellness of county residents. DFS recognizes systemic oppression and institutional racism have contributed to disparities in opportunities for county residents to succeed. DFS will support equitable outcomes by examining its policies, practices, and procedures to eliminate disparities in service delivery and outcomes for county residents.”
On June 27, 1969, New York police raided Stonewall Inn, a bar located in New York City’s Greenwich Village, well known to the city’s LGBTQIA+ community. Police raids on gay bars were common, and on this night, the growing tensions set off a riot against the brutality and discrimination LGBTQIA people were facing. While this was not the first protest of its kind, activist groups, including The Mattachine Society, Gay Activists Alliance, and the Gay Liberation Front, organized a march on the anniversary of the riots with the theme of “Gay Pride.” In the years that followed, other organizations and cities developed pride parades across the country and these celebrations expanded to the entire month of June. President Bill Clinton issued the first proclamation of Pride Month in the United States in 1999.
History
Sylvia Rivera (1951–2002) was an activist in the transgender and gay liberation movements of the 1970s. A survivor of childhood sexual exploitation, she co-founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), an organization supporting homeless queer and trans youth in New York City. In 1973, in a speech now referred to as “Y’all Better Quiet Down,” Rivera interrupted a major gay liberation rally to talk about the exclusion of transgender and gender nonconforming people in the movement.
“We have to be visible. We should not be ashamed of who we are. We have to show the world that we’re numerous. There are many of us out there.”
Audre Lorde (1934–1992) was a writer, activist, and poet whose contributions to the civil rights and feminist movements addressed the intersections of racism, sexism, ableism, and homophobia. Her essay, “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House,” discussing racism in the feminist movement, is one of the foundational texts on what is now referred to as intersectional feminism.
“There is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.”
Magnus Hirschfeld (1868–1935) was a physician, medical researcher, and sexologist who is known for developing some of the earliest modern scholarship on gender identity and sexuality. His work was often present in book burnings carried out by the Nazis during World War II due to their expansive views on sexuality and gender identity.
“Soon the day will come when science will win victory over error, justice a victory over injustice, and human love a victory over human hatred and ignorance.”
Current Day Activism
Julia Serano is a poet, author, and activist whose writings focus on the centering of queer and trans women’s voices in feminist movements. Her essay collection Whipping Girl discusses gender, sexuality, and “the scapegoating of femininity” through the lens of myths about transgender women.
“No form of gender equity can ever truly be achieved until we first work to empower femininity itself.”
Anthony Rapp is an actor, singer, and author known for his roles in the original Broadway cast and movie adaptation of "Rent" and the television show “Star Trek: Discovery.” During the rise of the #metoo movement in 2017, he came forward about being sexually assaulted by a high-profile actor when he was a teen.
“The only way these things can continue is if there’s no attention being paid to it, if it’s getting forgotten.”
Wilson Cruz is an actor and performer who has worked with and advocated for LGBTQIA+ youth, particularly youth of color, since the beginning of his career in the early 1990s on cult favorite “My So-Called Life.” He has spoken out against harmful portrayals of LGBTQIA+ characters in Hollywood, political injustice, and hate-based violence toward the LGBTQIA+ community.
“I hope that upon this scorched earth we have planted the seeds of ideas that will bear the fruit of more diverse and inclusive stories that include people of color in the LGBT community.”
LGBTQIA+ communities face significant barriers to accessing support when experiencing violence. Discrimination in housing and employment, high rates of homelessness, and isolation from community based on one’s identity can prevent those experiencing domestic violence from accessing support services. Additionally, many victim services programs address the needs of cisgender women without meaningfully accommodating survivors of other gender identities or sexualities.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, respondents who identified as lesbian, gay, and bisexual reported experiencing violence at higher rates than heterosexual respondents. Bisexual women reported rape and intimate partner violence at nearly twice the rate of heterosexual women.
Respondents to the 2015 National Transgender Survey reported violence at some of the highest rates of any marginalized group. Fifty-four percent of respondents reported experiencing violence from an intimate partner. Transgender people of color were
disproportionately impacted, with as high as 56% of Black respondents and 73% of American Indian and Alaskan Native respondents reporting experiencing intimate partner violence.
- Virginia Action Alliance LGBTQ+ Partner Abuse and Sexual Assault Helpline
- Virginia Anti-Violence Project
- Trans Lifeline
- The Trevor Project
- GLAAD Media Reference Guide