“A Victim is a Victim:” LGBT Blindness among Victim Assistance Workers

Authors

Michael C. LaSala, Rutgers
James P. Fedor, Institute for Personal Growth

Abstract

"LGBT crime victims underutilize victim assistance services because they fear secondary victimization by homophobic and insensitive workers and organizations. However, assessment of the perceptions and competence of those working with these populations is largely absent from the literature. To address this gap, we qualitatively investigated 83 victim assistance workers and administrators regarding their practices with LGBT victims. Overall, respondents believed that a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity was irrelevant, which was well-meaning but potentially perpetuated a type of LGBT cultural blindness to the needs of these populations, not dissimilar to color blindness among some white service providers toward African Americans. Participants questioned the appropriateness of asking about a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity, had not received training in working with LGBT clients, and felt compelled to hide their clients’ sexual orientations and gender identities to protect them from hostility within the legal system. Implications for practice and future research are discussed."

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

LaSala, Michael C. and Fedor, James P. (2020) "“A Victim is a Victim:” LGBT Blindness among Victim Assistance Workers," Qualitative Criminology (QC): Vol. 9: No. 1, Article 5.
Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/qc/vol9/iss1/5