Domestic violence helpline facing closure
LGBT domestic violence charity Broken Rainbow’s helpline may close after failing to secure government funding.
Broken Rainbow is the latest LGBT charity facing government cuts to their services. Their helpline can currently only afford to have one person manning it at a time, meaning callers often cannot get through and may be discouraged from trying again.
LGBT people are twice as likely to experience domestic abuse and half of all victims say they don’t know where to access support.
Service delivery manager Wendy Wilde said: “For our funding not to be renewed or replaced will result in the helpline being closed down.
We’ve supported over five thousand people this year and if
we were to close there are very few other services for them to go to and not one that offers national
support in the way we do.”
Managing Director of Broken Rainbow, Jo Harvey-Barringer said: “Other funding options are limited and though we have been luckily enough to bring in some smaller grants it hasn’t been enough to cover the cost of the helpline.
“We cannot capture the large corporate funding streams like Stonewall and often engaging corporate funders is incredibly hard due to the nature of the work we do. It’s much easier for them to support LGBT organisations that aren’t confronting something unpalatable within our own community.”
