Gays behaving badly
Gays often complain about "gay-bashing." What many people don't know is that gay themselves may be responsible for most of it.
From Kentucky Citizen Digest, July, 1997

Newspapers around the state recently reported that Judge Kevin Horne refused to apply a domestic violence law passed in 1996 to same-sex couples because the law, he believes, was not meant to apply in those situations, but was rather intended to protect women against violence perpetrated by men. This interpretation has legislators who drafted the law arguing about what the intent of the law really was.

But a quick look at the statistics in relation to violence in homosexual relationships indicates that there may indeed be a problem. How do deal with it, however, is less clear.

Violence among homosexuals

According to Susan Holt, coordinator of the domestic violence unit of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, “domestic violence is the third-largest health problem facing the gay and lesbian community today and trails only behind AIDS and substance abuse ... in terms of sheer numbers and lethality.”

Studies seem to indicate that the rate of violence in traditional marriages is less than 5 percent per year. In unmarried heterosexual relationships, the figure rises to between 20 and 25 percent. In lesbian relationships, however, the figure climbs again to about half of all lesbian couples.

According to another study reported in a 1989 issue of Sex Journal, among 70 gays and lesbians participating in a study of conflict resolution, it was found that 29 percent of male homosexuals and 56 percent of lesbians reported violence in their relationships in the previous year.

A 1989 study of 284 lesbians in “committed, cohabiting” relationships found that 43 percent experienced violence within the most recent year.

In 1990, among 90 lesbian couples in Los Angeles violence was reported in half of the relationships. Of 22 “mothers” who had children living with them, the rate of violence was no different: 11 lived in violent relationships, 11 did not.

Who is “gay-bashing”?

There appears to be more violence going on among gays themselves than is directed at them from non-homosexuals.

In a 1995 study, it was found that, of five cities studied, four had more reports of violence between gays themselves than of violence directed at gays by non-homosexuals. The reports of so-called “gay-bashing” by non-homosexuals included reports of name-calling and property damage - not just physical abuse. All of the reports of violence among gays themselves, however, involved actual physical violence.

While most domestic violence laws were designed to protect women from violent men, it may be time to look at laws that would protect homosexuals from themselves.

Earlier this year, State Sen. Tim Philpot (R-Lexington) prefiled a bill that would clarify the state’s domestic violence law so that it would deal only with domestic situations - in other words, in cases involving a man and a woman.

According to Philpot, the current chairman of the senate judiciary committee, his action should not be taken as an indication that he believes there is not a problem with violence between live-in homosexuals. Philpot wants to clarify the intent of the law partly to prevent judges from imposing their own personal views rather than those of elected lawmakers.

Perhaps the most controversial issue lawmakers could deal with is whether homosexuals should be dealt with under the same laws as heterosexuals. Doing so, some conservatives fear, could be tantamount to saying that such relationships enjoy the same status under law, an implication many people would contest.
 

Key Family Foundation Contacts: Kent Ostrander, Executive Director Martin Cothran, Senior Associate Policy Analyst