Overview of the Guiding Principles: Healing Beyond the Binary

LGBTQ+ people experience sexual violence at higher rates than their straight, cisgender counterparts. And although victim services agencies have a willingness to be of service, this community remains underserved. What if the lesson to be learned is that our ways of thinking as sexual violence service providers are too limiting— not just for queer and trans communities, but for all the communities we serve? Not another 101 about LGBTQ identities, this introduction to a 7-part interactive, applied workshop series will seek to expand the frameworks of the sexual violence movement by answering the LGBTQ+ community’s call for us to move beyond binaries. Binaries are simplistic dualities or seeming opposites like good vs. evil, men vs. women, and boy vs. girl. When we move past binaries and acknowledge messy, complex realities of people’s lives, we do not just create more LGBTQ+-inclusive services. We also offer more robust empathy, fuller healing, and healthier environments to all clients and staff members. Please come to this workshop prepared to participate in discussion, reflection, and breakout groups.