Refusal of UN Women to Acknowledge Female-Perpetrated Violence Does a Disservice to Lesbian Women

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Rebecca Hain: +1-513-479-3335

Refusal of UN Women to Acknowledge Female-Perpetrated Violence Puts Lesbian Women At Risk

WASHINGTON / December 2, 2022 – UN Women recently launched its annual “16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence.” (1) But the campaign is avoiding mention of domestic violence among same-sex lesbian couples, even though such relationships represent a major threat to many women.

Three incidents illustrate the threat:

Yvonne Wu of New York City discovered her ex-girlfriend cavorting with her new love interest. Wu allegedly opened fire, shooting Li in the chest and mortally wounding the new girlfriend. Wu was arrested and charged with murder (2).
Two weeks ago, April Wright and Rachel Wright pled guilty to repeatedly punching a 10 year-old boy, dislocating his neck bones and causing his death. Prosecutors noted the child had been “repeatedly isolated and tortured” by the lesbian couple (3).
In an apparent murder-suicide, Eleni Kassa was found dead in the trunk of her girlfriend’s car this past Sunday. Her girlfriend, Dominique Hardwick, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound the same day following a police chase (4).

These are not isolated incidents. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports that same-sex female couples have substantially higher lifetime victimization rates than same-sex male couples for domestic violence, rape, and/or stalking (5):

Lesbian: 44%
Gay: 26%

In Australia, a survey of over 5,400 LGBTIQ persons reported similar findings. The national survey found 41% of female respondents and 28% of male respondents reported having been in a relationship in which the partner was abusive (6).

Concerns for the safety of lesbian women recently have been expressed in Georgia (7), Malawi (8), and South Africa (9), as well.

Domestic violence can be prevented, but government officials need to end the shroud of silence that envelopes female-perpetrated abuse. The Domestic Abuse and Violence International Alliance (10) calls on the United Nations and on Member Nations to assure that all forms of domestic violence, regardless of the sex of the perpetrator, are recognized and addressed.

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