A group of domestic violence survivors and advocates rallied in Georgetown Friday, calling for more resources in Sussex County.
Patty Rickman is a mom of three, a business owner, and a survivor of LGBTQ+ domestic violence. She endured abuse from her ex-offender for four years before finally fleeing last April, after she says she almost lost her life.
“I was held down on that bed, I was choked out with her knees to my chest and her hands against my throat," Rickman recounts. "I was held against my will in that hotel room that day. I was told no one would hear me, I was told that no one believe me.”
Rickman filed a Protection From Abuse order. Later, her offender filed one in retaliation. Rickman says that’s why Sussex County needs a domestic violence task force, like Kent and New Castle countries.
“And what that is is two full-time employees, and their role, primarily, is that they go through and authenticate protective orders.”
Rickman says numbers from the LGBTQ+ community are likely underreported since people in the community want to protect their own and avoid further discrimination.
She brought advocates together to raise awareness, including What Is Your Voice, an organization that advocates for and protects domestic violence victims.
Its Founder and President Jacqueline Sterbach says LGBTQ+ victims are less likely to report abuse.
“Not wanting to admit it because we want to protect our community, we want to protect our family, or we don’t want people to know about it, because if you’re not part of the LGBTQI community and you’re on the outside, maybe not a supporter of the community, then its so easy to use their biased, judgemental basis to oppress that community and their voice.”
Sterbach says last year, the organization handled 18,000 inquiries, and has helped over 450 families navigate domestic violence cases in court.
About 36% of lesbian women, 55% of bisexual women, and 30% of heterosexual women have been slapped, pushed, or shoved by an intimate partner at some point, according to a 2010 survey from the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey.
