(WITHDRAWN) Interpersonal Violence Against Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual (LGB) Individuals: Results from the 2017-2018 National Crime Victimization Survey

Background: Individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or queer/questioning (LGB+) are exposed to interpersonal violence at high rates compared to the overall population. However, the extent of violence exposure has been difficult to quantify due to the lack of nationally representative surveys of crime victimization that include questions about sexual orientation. In 2017 and 2018, the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) added such questions for the first time, enabling researchers to estimate violent victimization among LGBQ individuals. The purpose of this study is to present the prevalence of interpersonal violent victimization among LGB+ individuals compared to the overall population, and to assess how within-group demographic characteristics affect persons’ risk for violence.

Methods: We used the 2017-2018 NCVS to estimate annual rates of violent victimization including rape/sexual assault, aggravated assault, and simple assault (e.g. assault without a weapon) among LGB+ as well as the relative risk of LGB+ violence exposure compared to straight individuals. We then examined incident characteristics (intimate partner violence, multiple offender, stranger/non-acquaintance violence, whether crime resulted in serious bodily injury) among LGB+ compared to straight individuals and estimated relative risk ratios between LGB+ and straight. To assess whether the differences in violent victimization between LGB+ and straight persons might be associated with sociodemographic characteristics, we estimate survey-weighted logistic regression models in which the outcome consists of whether the respondent was the victim of a violent crime (1=yes, 0=no) during the previous six months. These models include victim demographics such as age, race, ethnicity, sex, household income, and residential area (e.g., urban, suburban, or rural).

Results: LGB+ persons experienced violent victimization across all categories at significantly higher rates than heterosexuals (90.9 per 1,000 versus 20.2 per 1,000). Serious violence including multiple offender attacks, bodily injury, intimate partner violence, acquaintance violence, and stranger violence characterized these incidents. The rates of serious violence were highest among female-identified LGB persons at 46 per 1,000 individuals as opposed to 23.3 per 1,000 male-identified LGB+ and 8.2 per 1,000 heterosexual. Among LGB+, the effects of young age (16-17 year olds), annual income less than $25,000, and urban residency were most strongly associated with higher odds of victimization. Across all race/ethnic categories, LGB+ had significantly higher odds of victimization than their straight counterparts.

Conclusions and Implications: Individuals identifying as LGB+ are exposed to interpersonal violence, much of it very serious, across all demographic categories at far higher rates compared to straight individuals. The significance of these findings using the NCVS, the nation’s primary source of information on crime victimization, comes at a moment when the federal government has petitioned to remove asking questions about sexual orientation from 16 and 17 year olds in the NCVS. Removal of sexual orientation questions would once again limit the ability to quantify victimization against a population at demonstrably high risk of experiencing interpersonal violence, including sexual assault and intimate partner violence, and could have implications for support services to survivors of such violence.