Scots law leaves gay victims of abuse ‘invisible’

The Scottish Government should change the way domestic abuse is defined in law to offer better protection to gay and transgender people suffering violence in the home, an academic has warned.

Law lecturer Brian Dempsey said the “peculiar” way Scotland defined domestic abuse rendered sufferers in same-sex relationships “invisible”.

In Scotland, the official definition states: “Domestic abuse (as gender-based abuse), can be perpetrated by partners or ex-partners and can include physical abuse (assault and physical attack involving a range of behaviour), sexual abuse (acts which degrade and humiliate women and are perpetrated against their will, including rape) and mental and emotional abuse…”

Mr Dempsey said: “The overwhelming emphasis on presenting domestic abuse as something that men do to women means that people, such as accident and emergency nurses or GPs or housing officers, just aren’t picking up on the signals that an LGBT client might need help.”