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Tips for Strengthening and Improving 
LGBTQ+ Sexual Assault Survivors’ 
Access to Services in Oregon 

Note: LGBTQ stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer. It is also 
frequently used for a wide array of gender and sexual minority identities. This tip 
sheet uses LGBTQ+ to indicate the acronym’s use as an expansive umbrella term. 
There is no singular LGBTQ+ identity, and the term inherently refers to people who 
may have identities and experiences that are very different from each other. 

Background 

LGBTQ+ individuals experience sexual assault at rates equal to or higher than the 
rest of the population.1 However, sexual assault services are often perceived as 
being exclusively for cisgender2 heterosexual women. We spent nine months 
meeting with LGBTQ+ survivors, their supporters, LGBTQ+ community 
stakeholders, and Oregon victim service providers (VSPs), and asked for their 
guidance on how to improve access to services for LGBTQ+ sexual assault 
survivors. This tip sheet is the result of those conversations. 

1 See, e.g., The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS): 
2010 Findings on Victimization by Sexual Orientation, Tables 1 & 2; and The 
Report of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, Figure 15.15. 

2 “Cisgender” describes a person whose internal sense of gender is consistent 
with the sex they were assigned at birth.


This tip sheet intended to help VSPs, particularly confidential advocates in 
Oregon,3 make their services more accessible and responsive to LGBTQ+ sexual 
assault survivors. We intend it to serve as an issue-spotting tool; it is not a best 
practices guide. We encourage VSPs to view this as one resource, among many, 
that can support their efforts to provide truly inclusive services that respond to 
and meet LGBTQ+ survivors’ needs. 
The tips in this document are organized by program area, from program-wide 
considerations like policies and training to tips on talking with survivors one-on-
one. The pages are color coded by topic for ease of reference. 

•Guiding Principles•Organizational Structure and Culture•Policies and Trainings•Physical Space•Outreach and Messaging•Intake, Data Collection, and Feedback•Communication•Additional Resources

3 Many of these tips assume that the reader and their program are able to keep 
confidential a client’s information, including their LGBTQ+ identity. Before 
collecting sensitive information, please ensure you inform the client if you cannot 
keep their information private. Know that organizations who receive funding 
through the Oregon Department of Justice’s Crime Victim and Survivor Services 
Division of the (CVSSD), Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), and Victims of 
Crime Act (VOCA), among others, have additional confidentiality requirements. 








Guiding Principles 

In addition to the specific tips below, there are some guiding principles that can 
help guide your work to make your services more responsive. 
Work to serve marginalized communities should be led by people in those 
communities. Developing trusting relationships with community-based 
organizations is foundational to assessing your program’s work with LGBTQ+ and 
other marginalized survivors and should be undertaken prior to or as part of an 
organization’s self-assessment. Partnering with state and local LGBTQ+ 
organizations is essential to understanding the dynamics affecting LGBTQ+ people 
in your service population. We also encourage programs to partner with or 
consult national LGBTQ+ anti-violence projects in order to follow best practices 
for serving LGBTQ+ sexual assault survivors. The resource section of this 
document lists several such organizations as a starting point. 
Like all victims, LGBTQ+ survivors live at the intersections. Their lived 
experiences as survivors are profoundly impacted by race, class, gender, disability, 
economic status, education, and more. Efforts to make your services more 
responsive to communities of color, people experiencing homelessness, and 
individuals with disabilities can and should go hand in hand with your efforts to 
reach more LGBTQ+ survivors. Partnering with organizations focused on disability 
rights and race equity is an essential step to evaluating your program’s 
accessibility to LGBTQ+ survivors. 
Representation matters. Having staff (including those in leadership positions), 
volunteers, and board members who are members of the marginalized 
communities you intend to serve can help you in that effort. A diverse staff 
improves your ability to identify gaps in your services and opportunities to grow 
that you might otherwise miss. It also sends a message to members of LGBTQ+ 
and other marginalized communities that they will be welcomed and adequately 
served when they seek assistance from your organization. 


Organizational Structure and Culture 

All organizations must routinely assess whether the work they are doing is aligned 
with their core values, and whether they are succeeding at meeting their goals. 
Partnering with community and subject-matter experts makes this assessment 
work more robust. It also makes it more likely that you will be able to identify 
opportunities to improve your services. Self-assessment without community 
engagement is likely to have a more limited impact than an assessment paired 
with and guided by community partnership. 

Assess whether your organization is ready to serve LGBTQ+ survivors. Use a self-
assessment tool to identify whether your organization has the necessary 
foundation to serve LGBTQ+ survivors, and ways your organization can be more 
welcoming and culturally responsive.4 

4 See for example FORGE Forward’s Is Your Agency Ready to Serve Transgender 
and Non-Binary Clients? See the resource guide for more information on FORGE.
5 Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries has Technical Assistance for Employers 
on Gender and Gender Identity in the workplace, available at 
https://www.oregon.gov/boli/TA/Pages/FactSheetsFAQs/Gender.aspx (last 
accessed August 21, 2019).
Set and enforce the expectation that inclusivity is a core and required value for 
volunteers, staff, and board members. Explicitly naming this as a value in your 
handbook or other organizational documents is a key aspect of holding your 
organization to this goal. 

Ensure you are meeting your legal obligations under federal, state, and local 
nondiscrimination laws. For example, Oregon law prohibits discrimination on the 
basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in a variety of services and public 
accommodations.5 Local jurisdictions may have additional protections for LGBTQ+ 
people. 


Policies and Trainings 

Here are some specific examples of policies and training that can help make your 
organization more LGBTQ-responsive. Partnering with community-specific programs 
and seeking legal advice are both essential steps to ensure that you have robust, 
LGBTQ-responsive, and legally sound policies in place. 

Develop, implement, and enforce anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies 
for employees, volunteers, and participants. Include specific details and examples of 
the type of behavior prohibited, who is protected (e.g., participants, staff, and/or 
volunteers), and what steps a person can take to make a complaint, including the 
person(s) tasked with receiving and responding to a report. 

Develop and implement a policy allowing people to use the restroom most 
consistent with their gender identity. Ensure all staff and participants are informed of 
your bathroom policy through training and signage. 

Train staff on terminology and issues common in the LGBTQ+ community. Include in 
the training using a person’s name and pronouns as requested, prioritizing gender 
neutral language, and avoiding heteronormative assumptions (such as presuming all 
female survivors have male partners). 

It is important not to rely on LGBTQ+ staff and 
volunteers to educate their colleagues in addition to 
their regular duties. 

Develop, implement, and enforce policies on disability access, and provide training 
for all staff. Ensuring that staff understand and comply with disability policies is 
essential to ensuring access to all survivors. 

LGBTQ+ survivors are more likely to have a 
disability than their cisgender and/or heterosexual 
counterparts.6 

6 Disability Among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Adults: Disparities in Prevalence and Risk, 
Karen Fredriksen-Goldsen-Hyun-Jun Kim-Susan Barkan, 
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3490559/ (accessed July 22, 2019). 




Physical Space 

The physical setting(s) in which you meet with survivors can have a significant 
impact on the quality and depth of your engagement. Overall, partnering with 
disability rights organizations to thoroughly assess your program’s accessibility is 
essential—the following accessibility tips are specific examples. Working with 
your partners at LGBTQ-specific organizations will help you better gauge whether 
your efforts are responsive to the needs of LGBTQ survivors. 

Display inclusive agency-appropriate materials to convey an “all are welcome 
here” message in any spaces where survivors may be present. Examples include 
displaying a rainbow flag, providing LGBTQ-specific magazines or resource 
information, and hanging artwork depicting diverse LGBTQ+ community in offices 
and common spaces. 

LGBTQ Flag: rainbow flag combined with the transgender pink, blue and white flag
Gender Neutral Restroom sign with universal symbol of accessibility on it
A close up of a sign
Description automatically generated
The Progress Flag updates the traditional Pride Flag by incorporating white, pink, 
and blue to expressly represent trans folks and brown and black for LGBTQ people 
of color (left). Sign indicating gender-neutral and wheelchair accessible restroom 
(middle). Restroom sign stating: This restroom may be used by any person 
regardless of gender or gender expression (right). 

Provide signage in your entry way or interview rooms that invites survivors to 
share the name and pronouns they wish you to use. For example, “We respect 
everyone’s identities. Please feel free at any time to tell us the name and 
pronouns we should use for you.” 

Where possible, offer single room options in shelters and gender-neutral, single 
occupant restrooms. Some LGBTQ+ survivors will feel safest with this higher level 
of privacy. Even one single-room restroom will make your facility more accessible 
to survivors with a range of privacy and accessibility needs. Do not require 
LGBTQ+ survivors to use different facilities than other survivors. 


Outreach and Messaging 

LGBTQ+ people frequently rely on word-of-mouth recommendations to find 
LGBTQ+ responsive services. Partnering with LGBTQ+ community organizations is 
therefore key both to making your services more responsive to LGBTQ+ survivors, 
and to getting the word out in the community that your services are safe and 
inclusive. Here are some additional specific tips for reaching LGBTQ+ survivors. 

When describing your services, explicitly identify LGBTQ+ people as potential 
recipients. Make clear that your program recognizes and affirms LGBTQ+ 
identities. For example, include language such as “Women’s support group (open 
to all women, including transgender, lesbian, gay, and bisexual women, and 
nonbinary survivors who are most comfortable in a women’s group).” 

Ensure that your brochures, websites, and other outreach materials depict 
survivors from a range of communities. Include photos and other images of 
LGBTQ+ survivors who are people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals with disabilities, 
and LGBTQ+ survivors from other under-served communities to ensure all 
survivors see themselves reflected in your target community. 

Include statistics on LGBTQ survivors in presentations, promotional materials, 
and other external communications. This can both increase awareness of 
LGBTQ+ survivors’ needs and communicate your program’s desire to be 
inclusive.7 

7 For example, while overall 1 in 5 women will experience rape in her lifetime for 
bisexual women that figure is closer to 1 in 3, and for transgender people it is 1 in 
2. The Report of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey. Washington, DC: National 
Center for Transgender Equality. 
Don’t generalize from one experience 
and assume it applies to all community 
members. 


Offer LGBTQ+-specific services if possible and appropriate. For example, 
consider LGBTQ+ survivor support groups or all-gender support groups.8 



8 Forge (2017). Part of the Solution: Gender-Integrated Sexual Assault Support 
Groups (Webinar), https://forge-forward.org/event/raliance-gender-integrated-
sa-support-groups-webinar/ (Accessed August 21, 2019). 




Intake, Data Collection, and Feedback 
Many programs have specific information they must collect, and limited options 
for how to record and report their data. Regardless of your formal data-collection 
requirements, prioritize the survivor’s comfort by making sure they know that 
questions about identity are optional, and if applicable, that the limited set of 
“official” options in your database is out of your control and not responsive to the 
LGBTQ+ community. 
Use a survivor’s correct name and pronouns. Invite survivors to tell you the name 
and pronouns they use regardless of what is on their identity documents. Ask 
whether the name and pronouns a survivor uses change based on context. For 
example, a survivor may use their chosen name with their family and their legal 
name with their employer. 

Nametag that says, Hello my pronouns are They/Them


An image of a classic nametag sticker that reads “Hello, my pronouns are: 
They/Them” (above). Consider wearing a sticker or button like this to 
announce your pronouns. It’s an easy way of signaling to trans and 
nonbinary survivors that it’s safe to share theirs. 

If you collect sexual orientation, gender identity and expression (SOGIE) data, 
ask these questions of everyone you serve.9 Explain why the information is 
useful to the survivor and to you and your organization, and how personal 
information will be protected and/or shared. Make these questions optional to 

9 See the Human Rights Campaign’s SOGIE Data Collection Guide designed to help 
agencies assess their readiness for SOGIE data collection and offers in-depth 
guidance on how to collect SOGIE information with youth and adults. 
www.hrc.org/resources/all-children-all-families-agency-data-collection 
answer and inform survivors prior to asking that they may decline. Consider using 
a script to provide consistent information. Don’t assume someone’s identity 
based on appearance or the gender of their partner or assailant. 

If possible, ask open-ended questions and allow the survivor to use their own 
words for their identities. Explain to the survivor what response options are 
available and let them select the one that best fits at this time. For example, “the 
options I have are Straight, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Other. “‘Other’ lets me 
enter a different description for your identity. Do any of those options feel 
comfortable for you?” 

Create and distribute client feedback forms that include questions related to 
inclusivity, respect, and anti-oppression. For example, include a question asking 
survivors if they felt welcomed, respected, and empowered by staff. 

Use SOGIE data and survivor feedback forms to help you assess if and how well 
you’re serving the communities you know are at risk. Consider sharing this (non-
personally identifying) information with LGBTQ+ community partners so they can 
help you identify or evaluate your outreach and engagement strategies. 

 


Communication 

This section provides specific tips on communicating with and about LGBTQ+ 
survivors. At the core, these tips are about providing survivor-centered and 
trauma-informed services and recognizing LGBTQ people’s expertise on their own 
experiences and needs. 

Seek consent and instruction on whether, when, and how you can share 
information internally and externally about a survivor’s sexual orientation 
and/or gender identity. Ask both about affirmatively sharing (for example, in 
order to help a referral resource better serve the survivor) and about correcting 
others (for example, if you hear somebody using the wrong pronouns, or 
incorrectly assuming the survivor is heterosexual). 

Misgendering happens when you use the wrong 
gendered pronouns or language for a person. 
Misgendering can be very painful. 

Become comfortable with introducing yourself with your pronouns. For 
example, you might say, “Hi. My name is Mary, and I use she/her pronouns.” 
Avoid inviting “preferred” pronouns as this can imply that the use of the pronoun 
is merely a preference and not the respectful and necessary way to address 
people. 

Encourage staff to include pronouns on business cards and in email signatures. 
This practice signals your organization’s awareness of trans and nonbinary issues 
to service recipients, partners, and others. It can also help trans and nonbinary 
individuals to initiate a conversation about pronouns because they know this is 
something you have considered. 

Practice talking about people without using 
pronouns—you don’t have to know a person’s 
pronouns to avoid misgendering them! 

Allow survivors to use their own words to describe their identities and 
relationships. Allow survivors to use the language they’re comfortable with to 
describe their experiences, partners, and bodies. Ask whether they want you to 


use that same language. For example, “I hear you saying you’re queer. Is that how 
I should to describe you to others, or is there different language I should use?” 

Acknowledge the limits of services, knowledge, or resources and offer options. 
For example, “We have no private rooms in shelter but can offer A & B. Would 
either of those work for you?” or “I want to be transparent; I’m new to using 
they/them pronouns. I’ll do my best and welcome your feedback if I mess up.” 

In the rare situation where a survivor is required to use their legal name, discuss 
the situation and their options. For example, while a survivor is required to use 
their legal name on official court documents, they may request that during court 
proceedings the judge and parties address and describe them with the name and 
pronouns they commonly use. You might also ask the survivor if they would like 
help changing their legal name or gender marker. 

 

Note: In Oregon, the process for obtaining a court-ordered 
name and gender marker change is simple and takes about 
two weeks. Fee waivers are available with evidence of a 
person’s inability to pay. A person may also update their birth 
certificate fairly easily. 

The Victim Rights Law Center can help transgender and 
nonbinary survivors in Oregon with this process. 

 


Additional Resources 

Basic Rights Oregon is Oregon’s LGBTQ rights and policy advocacy organization. 
BRO works to ensure that all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer 
(LGBTQ) Oregonians experience legal and lived equality by building a broad and 
inclusive politically powerful movement, shifting public opinion and achieving 
policy victories. Link: www.basicrights.org 

Demonstrate Access is a resource website with ideas and tools for community-
based service organizations. It is designed to help providers and organizations 
identify barriers and make changes in policy and practice to increase access for 
LGBTQ communities. Link: www.demonstrateaccess.org 

Disability Rights Oregon upholds the civil rights of people with disabilities to live, 
work, and engage in the community. The nonprofit works to transform systems, 
policies, and practices to give more people the opportunity to reach their full 
potential. Link: www.droregon.org 

FORGE is a national transgender anti-violence organization which provides direct 
services to transgender, gender non-conforming, and gender non-binary survivors 
of sexual assault. FORGE also provides training and technical assistance to 
providers around the country who work with transgender survivors of sexual 
assault, domestic and dating violence, and stalking. Link: www.forge-forward.org 

The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs is coalition of local member 
programs and affiliate organizations that work to create systemic and social 
change through data analysis, policy advocacy, education and technical 
assistance. NCAVP is run by the Anti-Violence Project, a direct service and 
outreach program that empowers lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and 
HIV-affected communities and allies to end all forms of violence through 
organizing and education and supports survivors through counseling and 
advocacy. Link: www.avp.org/ncavp/ 

The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVIS) is a Centers 
for Disease Control survey that collects information about intimate partner 
violence, sexual violence, and stalking victimization in the United States. The 2010 
Findings on Victimization by Sexual Orientation provide statistics on LGB 
Americans’ experiences with sexual and other violence. Unfortunately, this survey 


does not provide information about gender identity. Link: 
https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/datasources/nisvs/index.html 
The Network/La Red is a survivor-led, social justice organization that works to 
end partner abuse in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, SM, polyamorous, and 
queer communities. Rooted in anti-oppression principles, their work aims to 
create a world where all people are free from oppression. Link: www.tnlr.org 
The Northwest Network of Bi, Trans, Lesbian and Gay Survivors is a Seattle-
based anti-domestic violence organization that works to end violence and abuse 
by building loving and equitable relationships in LGBTQ communities locally and 
nationally. NW Network provides technical assistance and training for victim 
service providers, as well as direct services. Link: www.nwnetwork.org 
Trans Lifeline is a transgender-led community-based suicide prevention program 
operating in the United States and Canada. Their lifeline provides support to 
transgender and nonbinary callers experiencing anything from isolation to suicidal 
ideation. They also run a microgrants program which offers funds to assist 
transgender and nonbinary people in paying fees to change name and gender on 
government-issued identity documents. Link: www.translifeline.org 
The 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey (USTS) is the largest survey ever devoted to 
the lives and experiences of trans people. The USTS website includes the 
complete report, executive summaries, reports on the experiences of trans 
people of color, and state-specific reports. Link: www.ustranssurvey.org 
The Victim Rights Law Center provides free holistic legal services to survivors of 
sexual assault in Massachusetts and Oregon. The VRLC can provide technical 
assistance (support, individual and programmatic consultation, resources, and 
training) on serving LGBTQ+ sexual assault survivors, and on privacy and serving 
survivors of gender-based violence more broadly. You can contact our Director of 
Training and Technical Assistance, Jessica Mindlin, at (503) 274-5477 x1, or 
jmindlin@victimrights.org. Link: www.victimrights.org 















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This tip sheet was produced by Victim Rights Law Center under award 
#2016-XV-GX-K015, awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office 
of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, 
findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this tip 
sheet are those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent 
the official positions or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.