Paper Title
Addressing the Intersections: A Collaborative Model for Creating Equality in Service Systems for LGBTQ Individuals
Location
Room 212, West Center
Keywords
LGBTQ, Anti-Oppression, Intersectionality
Start Date
1-4-2016 9:00 AM
End Date
1-4-2016 10:15 AM
Abstract
Recent studies by the Centers for Disease Control, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and public health researchers in South Carolina find that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) individuals experience health disparities at alarmingly high rates and yet are often hesitant to engage with systems that would provide prevention and intervention services. In South Carolina, the potential identities that such individuals might have—being LGBTQ in the Bible Belt of the South, in a rural state with high rates of poverty, etc.—create numerous barriers and intersecting oppressions that make accessing services difficult and discrimination an ever-present reality.
Using intimate partner violence and sexual violence as an example, in this panel presentation, staff from the South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (SCCADVASA) will discuss the layers of oppression that LGBTQ survivors of intimate partner and sexual violence face in South Carolina and will offer a collaborative model for developing and implementing training and educational programs that increase agencies’ cultural awareness and break down the systemic oppressions LGBTQ people face in health and service systems. Based on SCCADVASA’s own work successfully creating and launching a statewide LGBTQ cultural competency program in partnership with SC Equality and the Department of Social Services, presenters will provide a framework for using an intersectional, anti-oppression model to enhance services, advocacy, and outreach for vulnerable populations and will offer a long-term vision for implementing such a model with service providers throughout the state.
Addressing the Intersections: A Collaborative Model for Creating Equality in Service Systems for LGBTQ Individuals
Room 212, West Center
Recent studies by the Centers for Disease Control, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and public health researchers in South Carolina find that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) individuals experience health disparities at alarmingly high rates and yet are often hesitant to engage with systems that would provide prevention and intervention services. In South Carolina, the potential identities that such individuals might have—being LGBTQ in the Bible Belt of the South, in a rural state with high rates of poverty, etc.—create numerous barriers and intersecting oppressions that make accessing services difficult and discrimination an ever-present reality.
Using intimate partner violence and sexual violence as an example, in this panel presentation, staff from the South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (SCCADVASA) will discuss the layers of oppression that LGBTQ survivors of intimate partner and sexual violence face in South Carolina and will offer a collaborative model for developing and implementing training and educational programs that increase agencies’ cultural awareness and break down the systemic oppressions LGBTQ people face in health and service systems. Based on SCCADVASA’s own work successfully creating and launching a statewide LGBTQ cultural competency program in partnership with SC Equality and the Department of Social Services, presenters will provide a framework for using an intersectional, anti-oppression model to enhance services, advocacy, and outreach for vulnerable populations and will offer a long-term vision for implementing such a model with service providers throughout the state.
