Galop welcomes the government’s focus on tackling gender-based violence through its new VAWG Strategy.

We are pleased to see the inclusion of LGBT+ people as a community affected by these forms of abuse and violence, and the need to fund specialist by-and-for support services.

For decades, Galop has supported LGBT+ victims and survivors of gender-based violence. Our community faces uniquely complex and overlapping experiences of abuse and violence, including domestic abuse, sexual violence, online abuse, and conversion practices, which are critical to consider in the implementation of the strategy.

In particular, the strategy’s focus on support and prevention must involve and include LGBT+ victims and survivors if the government is to be effective in reaching its aim of halving VAWG in ten years.

To meet the need, specialist support services must be well-equipped and resourced. Galop looks forward to understanding in more detail how these ambitions will be adequately funded, to ensure LGBT+ victims and survivors can access specialist abuse and violence support as and when they need it.

We will continue working with our VAWG sector partners and the government to deliver these ambitions and ensure that all LGBT+ victims and survivors of abuse and violence are afforded equal access to support.