Violence in LGBT couples is a serious societal problem that can affect the well-being of many citizens. Suicide risk factors are much more common within the LGBT community than the national average (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, n.d.). These risk factors include psychological stress, depressive disorders, and experiences of sexual abuse. Risk patterns for these factors vary within LGBT subpopulations. Gay and bisexual men are more likely to attempt suicide during their lifetime than lesbian, bisexual women, or heterosexual men (Salway et al., 2019). When it comes to substance use, LGBT women are much more at risk than heterosexual women or gay and bisexual men (Schuler et al., 2020). Differences are also observed in other social factors and do not depend on orientation and gender, basing on the person’s origin. Housing problems are more common among black transgender veterans than among white transgender veterans (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, n.d.). In recent years, sociologists have worked on retheorizing to determine the factors that contribute to intimate partner violence within LGBT communities.
Intimate partner violence (IPV) has been mainly based on the feminist perspective, from which IPV was a cause of men’s violence is the extension of patriarchy. However, with LGBT communities IPV theory can help explain the instances of violence when viewed in connection with queer theory. From this perspective, LGBT individuals are more vulnerable than the general population, and they are subjected to more instances of IPV. Therefore, communities should engage in the promotion of awareness and development of programs that would support LGBT people who were subjected to IPV. In summary, this proposal briefly reviews some of the issues that LGBT communities faces and offers a sociological outlook on the resolution of these issues.
References
Salway, T., Ross, L. E., Fehr, C. P., Burley, J., Asadi, S., Hawkins, B., & Tarasoff, L. A. (2019). A systematic review and meta-analysis of disparities in the prevalence of suicide ideation and attempt among bisexual populations. Archives of sexual behavior, 48(1), 89-111.
Schuler, M. S., Prince, D. M., Breslau, J., & Collins, R. L. (2020). Substance use disparities at the intersection of sexual identity and race/ethnicity: Results from the 2015–2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. LGBT health, 7(6), 283-291.
U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. (n.d.). Preventing suicide among veterans with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and related identities.