ICYMI: The county attorney's office has partnered with the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation's Anti-Violence Project to provide resources and get the word out that there's an ally in Tucson's criminal justice system.
Caitlin Schmidt The Pima County Attorney's Office is stepping up its efforts to support LGBTQ+ survivors of sexual assault, with a newly designated, queer-identifying victim advocate and a partnership with a local anti-violence program.
'Mistrust in the system'While work has been going on for years to help engage Spanish-speaking survivors, it's been a little more difficult to get the LGBTQ+ engagement off the ground, said lead victim advocate Colleen Phelan. In 2013, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its first study on the prevalence, by sexual orientation, of domestic violence, sexual violence and stalking.
Members of the LGBTQ+ community have difficulty accessing services following a sexual assault for a variety of reasons, including unpleasant experiences in the past, a system that is largely designed for heterosexual people, and the fear for some of outing themselves, she said. Norush recently joined the county attorney's Sexual Assault Kit Initiative team as its queer-identifying advocate, working to bridge the gap between survivors and the system.
"We're starting with me as the queer person at the Pima County Attorney's Office for queer-identifying folks to come to with questions about the system, questions about ongoing cases and more," Norush said. Since it's a tight-knit community, word of mouth can travel fast, especially when that word is that there's a safe person or group to talk to and a place to access services.
Many local behavioral health providers, shelters and other community partners are expressing interest in ensuring they're being inclusive, Eutizi said. For April's Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the office will distribute education pieces about specific at-risk populations, some of which includes simple messaging about pronouns.
"We can't change the system as a whole, but we can try to make it more comfortable, inviting and a little easier at any chance we get."
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