Advocates hope for LGBT-inclusive domestic violence guidelines

Last week Gov. Deval Patrick declared the rising rates of domestic violence-related deaths a public health emergency, and LGBT domestic violence advocates believe the administration's efforts could lead to increased training for law enforcement in responding to domestic violence within the LGBT community. The Patrick administration is working to update the law enforcement guidelines around domestic violence, and Curt Rogers, executive director of the Gay Men's Domestic Violence Project (GMDVP), said he hopes those guidelines will be LGBT-inclusive.

"I'm pretty confident. The law enforcement guidelines that are coming out are going to come through the Governor's Council, and I serve on the Governor's Council, as does Sabrina Santiago from the Network," said Rogers. The Network/La Red is a domestic violence organization serving lesbian, bisexual female and transgender victims of domestic violence.

In declaring the state of emergency the Patrick administration cited statistics from the statewide domestic violence organization, Jane Doe, Inc., showing a three-fold rise in domestic violence deaths over a two-year period, from 15 murders and 4 domestic violence related suicides in 2005 to 42 murders and 13 suicides in 2007. Among those 2007 murders was Claudio Montrond of Brockton, who was allegedly killed last August by his former boyfriend, Laurence Bynum-Harris. This year, two victims of alleged LGBT domestic violence murders are 14-year-old Acia Johnson and three-year-old Sophia Johnson, who died in a fire after their mother's ex-girlfriend, Nicole Chuminski, allegedly set fire to their home.

Beth Leventhal, executive director of the Network, said she hopes Patrick's declaration of a public health emergency raises awareness both among health care providers and the public.

"I think it was also a call to the general community to recognize - and as a community to take responsibility for - domestic violence when we see it," said Leventhal.