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28 Hofstra L. Rev. 1095 (1999-2000)
Victims of Abuse and Discrimination: Protecting Battered Homosexuals under Domestic Violence Legislation

handle is hein.journals/hoflr28 and id is 1105 raw text is: NOTE VICTIMS OF ABUSE AND DISCRIMNATION: PROTECTING BATTERED HOMOSEXUALS UNDER DOMESTIC VIOLENCE LEGISLATION I. INTRODUCTION The prevailing societal assumption is that domestic violence in- volves a man who beats his wife. Many scholars, as well, limit their definition of domestic violence to this subset of victims.' These views fail to account for the broader class of people who also fall victim to violence in the home. Although male to female abuse is the most prevalent form of domestic violence, not only does the notion of do- mestic violence include women abusing men, it is also a reality in ho- mosexual relationships.2 Domestic violence is a pattern of interaction that includes the use of physical violence, coercion, intimidation, isola- tion, and/or emotional, economic, or sexual abuse by one intimate part- ner to maintain power and control over the other intimate partner.3 Domestic violence is not restricted to a single racial, ethnic, cultural, or socio-economic group;4 rather, it occurs in all types of families and in all communities. In essence, the batterer uses any means possible to maintain control over the battered 1. See, e.g., MARGI LAIRD McCuE, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: A REFERENCE HANDBOOK 2-3 (1995) (mhis book defines domestic violence as violence perpetrated by men against women with whom they have or have had an intimate relationship.). 2. See DAVID ISLAND & PATRICK LErELLIER, MEN WHO BEAT THE MEN WHO LOVE THEM: BATTERED GAY MEN AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE 1 (1991). 3. Jo Ann Merica, The Lawyer's Basic Guide to Domestic Violence, 62 TEX. B.J. 915, 915 (1999). 4. See MCCUE, supra note 1, at 86. 5. See Sandra E. Lundy, Abuse That Dare Not Speak Its Name: Assisting Victims of Les- bian and Gay Domestic Violence in Massachusetts, 28 NEW ENG. L. REv. 273, 275-76 (1993) (noting that the batterer may force a diabetic victim to eat sugar or may deprive a disabled victim of a means of mobility).

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