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4.2.4.3 Assistance to Victims of Homophobic Violence
Some organizations representing the LGBT community in Germany have been active in supporting victims of homophobic discrimination and hate crimes decades before national programs started to provide funding for supporting victims of rightwing violence. In large metropolitan areas, these NGOs obviously have an easier task in that they possess more resources. Firstly, gay people and their corresponding sub-cultural communities form a critical mass in bigger cities like Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Dresden, Düsseldorf and Cologne; whereas, in most smaller towns and rural regions — both in West and East Germany — they remain peripheral and without any infrastructure, lacking spokespersons or external points of contact to utilize in times of crisis.
Berlin is the leading city in Germany when it comes to specialized services for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and transgender people who have experienced hate crimes. The above mentioned association, Lesbian Counseling Services in Berlin, was the first psycho-social center that provided different services for these target groups, having received funding from the local government. Started in 1981, it added its anti-violence project in 1993, working with specialized teams of psychologists to offer counseling services to victims of homophobic and domestic violence. There were 127 consultation cases registered in 2007, roughly half of which involved violence in domestic relationships and the other half with violence in the public sphere (homophobic/anti-lesbian violence). According to our interview partner, only one third of all women who contact the association seek assistance with legal matters or with filing a police complaint. Instead, most of them are interested in professional psychological support and help regaining their self-confidence. For women interested in taking legal steps against the perpetrators, various in-house services are available: escort to the police and courts, legal counseling and advice from a lawyer (one a month). The NGO also cooperates with a Berlin-based project that offers legal assistance regarding how to deal with the courts. Other services offered are: individual psychological counseling, group sessions, seminars and self-defense courses. The latter gives women a better idea of how they can protect themselves in the public sphere.
The emergency hotline, MANEO, deals with about 250 to 300 new cases of homophobic violence each year. It was founded in 1993 as the first contact point for gay adolescents and men in Germany who experience hate crimes. It receives some funding from the local government. Since its initiation, it has established a reputation beyond the city borders of Berlin as a highly regarded professional counseling and monitoring center that is also active in research, violence prevention, national and international networking and lobbying. (1)
In its capacity as a victim support group, MANEO has practices and services similar to those of the CIVITAS projects: counseling and empowering the individual, sensitizing the public sphere, activating community support and networking. Victims and witnesses of hate crimes can contact the counseling team via e-mail, phone or by dropping by the office. The emergency hotline, which is also accessible on weekends and bank holidays, is run by a group of roughly ten volunteers, including one individual doing civil service in lieu of military service, and one paid staff member (project manager). Services to victims seeking help are divided into primary and secondary provisions, including individual psycho-social counseling, self-help groups, aid in procuring therapy and rehabilitation, legal advice and guidance through court proceedings. Since MANEO also maintains a close relationship with local police (especially the officers who serve as the official contact for the LGBT community), the team is able to intervene in conflicts where the victims who have filed complaints feel mistreated or not taken seriously by the police. Furthermore, the staff has developed an expertise in dealing with out-of-court settlements between victims and perpetrators, and in cooperating with state institutions such as judiciary bodies for adolescent offenders and the social services of the courts.
Lesbian or gay-specific counseling services exist in a number of other cities in Germany. According to a study, however, it cannot be assumed that these counseling centers are all willing and able to offer their help and support in cases of violence and/or discrimination. According to Constance Olms, »a system of assistance covering the whole area of Germany is not available, due to the concentration in cities and the organizations’ different focuses on activities.« (2) In East Germany many organizations representing the LGBT community are working without any funding (apart from donations) or professional staff. This means they have a high turnover of active members. However, in an effort to establish similar monitoring and assistance services to victims of homophobic violence, there are a few initiatives that are trying to build on the experiences of projects such as MANEO, Lesbian Counseling Services and the CIVITAS projects. The association Of a Different Kind, for example, is located in Potsdam (Brandenburg) and has been running a general counseling center for the LGBT community in the region since 1995. They have two paid staff who are financed by the regional government of Brandenburg. After setting up an emergency hotline for victims of homophobic violence in 2006, they received some minimal funding from the state program against right-wing extremism, Tolerant Brandenburg (Tolerantes Brandenburg), and donations from the German Police Union. The association, Different People, is run by a group of volunteers in Chemnitz (Saxony), offering psycho-social services to members of the local LBGT community since 2003. When interviewed, both organizations discussed the difficulty of assessing the amount of homophobic violence in their respective regions. In the past couple of years, the Chemnitz group received information on three cases of homophobic hate crimes, reported to them by the victims. A representative of Of a Different Kind who is also a member of the Association of Lesbians and Gays within the police, said that the response to their hotline has been very marginal so far. It can be assumed that most victims affected by homophobic hate crimes in Brandenburg who are also seeking help would still turn to the more experienced counseling services in Berlin. Another reason for underreporting, according to both interview partners, is the persistent fear of many gay people in rural areas that talking about discrimination and attacks will be stigmatizing. Other accounts come from NGOs such as Chitchat—homo, bi and trans (Gerede—homo, bi und trans e.V.), which has been offering psycho-social counseling, crisis intervention and legal aid to members of the LGBT communities in Dresden (Saxony) since the middle of the 1990s. According to the Dresden group and similar NGOs in Magdeburg, Cologne and other cities, there has been an increasing number of reports on homophobic attacks committed in public spaces. (3)
1. Maneo–das schwule Anti-Gewalt-Projekt in Berlin, http://www.maneo.de/highres/index.html.
2. Ohms, Constance 2001. In Good Hands? The Status of Psycho-social Assistance for Lesbian Victims of Violence and/or Discrimination: a European Comparison, Frankfurt/Main, p. 4.
3. Telephone inquiry, 15 Apr 2008.
(OPP)
