BY EUAN BEAR

ctober is Domestic Violence

Awareness Month. It’s the

second such occasion since
SafeSpace opened its doors to pro-
vide services for gay men, lesbians,
bisexuals, and transgender people
who are being shoved, kicked, hit,
manipulated or pressured into sex, or
who are threatened, assaulted, or
denied services because of their sex-
ual orientation or gender expression.

Despite the fact that_.sever-
a! domestic violence and rape pro-
grams were founded by lesbians, it
has been difficult for some programs
towelcome gay men who are being
hit or raped by their male partners or
by their dates, or transwomen or
transmen whose families or partners
or acquaintances have assaulted
them, or to take seriously the threat
posed to a lesbian by her woman
partner.

Hence the need for
SafeSpace’s dual missions: to help
lgbtq victims of domestic violence,
sexual assault, and bias crimes; and
to train the staffs of other domestic ‘
violence and sexual assault agencies
to provide “culturally competent”
services.

For our communities,

' receiving “culturally competent serv-

ices” begins with conversations that
don’t assume the gender of the
assailant or the partner.

Even three years after civil
unions, and ll years after the legisla-
ture outlawed discrimination on the
basis of sexual orientation, queer
“cultural competence” is not neces-
sarily a given in domestic violence
service agencies.

Director Kara DeLeonardis
says that SafeSpace was formed with
a_1ot of support from local agencies —
especially Women Helping Battered
Women and the Women’s Rape
Crisis Center. The directors of both
those organizations say that they are
committed to the complementary
goals of providing culturally compe-
tent services and advocacy for lgbt
survivors of sexual and domestic
violence in their own agencies and
supporting a broad array of options
so that survivors can get services
from whatever agency they feel most

“Because we have an explicit focus,
members of the community know that
they willtalk tooth-erl _queers

that they won't ‘ib:ei;:jlI§(,IJged-.”‘L   .
A Kara, DeLeonardis, SafeSpace, Director

comfortable with.

So why hasn’t SafeSpace,
an agency providing domestic vio-
lence and sexual assault advocacy
services, been allowed to join the
Vermont Network Against Domestic
Violence and Sexual Assault? The
Network is a coalition of 16 domes-
tic violence and sexual assault pro-
grams across the state. The board of
directors of the Network organiza-
tion consists of the 16 member—pro-
gram directors.

No New Members
Safe Space has been trying to
become a member for over a year,
only to be told that the Network is
“restructuring” and “redefining” its
membership standards. A three-year
moratorium on admitting new mem-
bers to the Network or funding new
shelters established by existing
members was instituted in May.
DeLeonardis says she
doesn’t doubt the necessity for the

'Network’s reorganization or the sin-

cerity of their support for Safe
Space. “I finally got to meet with
Rose Pulliam, the director of the
Network. She came out and said that
the Network office is really support-
ive of us, but that the office can’t
speak for all [member] programs;
some programs are adamant about
not serving men. Others question
whether we represent a duplication
of services.”

But, she admits, “A part of
me has just given up.” It’s ironic,

since DeLeonardis worked as an
Americorps Vista worker at the
Network office at the beginning of
her career.

According to Chani
Waterhouse, the Network’s Program
Support Coordinator, the Network is
“glad Safe Space exists, and we
respect their work and try to suppon
them-as much as possible.”

SafeSpace, she says, is not the only ' C

program with a niche clientele seek-
irg Network membership; others
include a program in the Deaf com-
munity, a transitional housing unit
for women, and a group seeking
accessibility to criminal justice serv-
ices for mobility impaired clients.

The restructuring, creation
of program standards. and establish-
ment of membership criteria are pro-’
ceeding slowly, Waterhouse explains,
"because the Network operates by *
consensus.

Funding’s Role

Among the factors in play is an eco-
nomic one. The Network administers
federal grants, allocating financial
resources among the various pro-
grams according to the services they
offer and the areas they serve: If new
members are admitted to the net-
work, the same (or shrinking) feder-
al grant pie will need to be sliced
into more ~ thinner — pieces.

"There are financial rami-
fications,” Waterhouse admits. “But
in my work with program directors
and staff, I feel confident that they
are making these decisions with a I

 
   

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1

higher purpose in mind, not primari-

ly money.” Among the overarching
principles of the Network and its
members. she says. is serving under-
served populations. ’
Waterhouse also says that
the membership moratorium has less
to do with SafeSpace and its com-‘ —
mitment to serve lgbt victims and
survivors of violence and more with
the fact that three existing member
programs opened new shelters within
the last two years, putting a strain on
the Network’s funding fonnula.
Currently SafeSpace
receives about 67 percent of its fund-
ing through the Vermont Center for
Crime Victim Services, but has no
access to domestic violence funding’
through the Network. The >>
remaining funding comes

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