Queer women and non-binary people are the least visible in LGBTIQ research and advocacy, and global discrimination and violence against them have “fallen through the cracks”, according to a new report by international NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW).
The report, published on 14 February, used interviews conducted in 26 countries to reveal a pattern of grave physical and sexual violence from security forces, family members and private individuals against lesbian, bisexual and queer (LBQ+) people worldwide. HRW is now calling for governments and donors to take immediate action to ensure visibility, funding and protection for LBQ+ movements.
“There’s a fairly persistent idea – even if no one says it out loud – that LBQ+ women are somehow safer than other members of the queer community because there aren’t many laws that explicitly criminalise lesbian sex,” Erin Kilbride, author of the report, told openDemocracy. But this notion “completely discounts all of the forms of violence that we documented”, she added.
