Instead, many victims silently endure the violence to shield their sexuality. Police say that makes it difficult to determine whether such assaults are rising in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. In many large cities, authorities report same-gender domestic violence complaints are going up. According to a recent survey conducted by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, domestic violence among gays, lesbians, transgender people and bisexuals increased 23 percent in 1999 from the year before. Experts say the upsurge in complaints, based on numbers from 24 reporting agencies in large cities, may be a result of more awareness rather than an increase in assaults.
Awareness is also increasing in the Carolinas, police and advocates say.
John Diggs, who heads the department's family services bureau. None of the training is specific to same-gender assaults. Same-gender domestic violence, as in heterosexual assaults, involves one partner exercising power over the other. The aggressors use threats, manipulation and violence, advocates say. Same-gender assaults differ, they say, because the cases usually lack the size difference between partners and issues of economic dependence.