Pawlenty’s budget cuts and an economic recession are threatening LGBT-specific services for survivors of sexual violence, but advocates say they will work hard to keep those services open — and they will need the community’s help to do so.

It’s not like sexual violence is an isolated problem, impacting only a few. Statistics from the FBI show one in three women in the US will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime, and one in four girls and one in six boys will experience sexual violence by the time they hit 18 — and these are just the reported cases. Problem is the health system can be downright hostile to LGBT survivors of sexual violence.

Maybe your parents’ friend keeps trying to grope you when they’re visiting. Maybe your date slips something into your drink at the bar and takes you home. Maybe your significant other forces you to have sex when you don’t want to.

You want to get help, but the ER nurse won’t believe that a woman did this to you. Or they call you a “freak” because your driver’s license assigns you one gender, and you live another. Or they ask why you don’t use birth control even though you’re sexually active. Or your dad finds out that you’re gay, because he’s listed as your emergency contact.

If you went into any hospital in Hennepin County this week to get help after being sexually assaulted, you’d be able to speak to an advocate — 24 hours a day, seven days a week — who would help you talk to the ER staff and who could defend you if need be. These advocates are either lesbian, gay, bi, or trans themselves, or are extensively trained allies, and they’re free of charge – no insurance needed. Come January, though, you could be all alone — these 24-hour advocates, provided by Minneapolis’ Sexual Violence Center, look set to loose a contract from Hennepin County at the end of this year that provides around 10 percent of their funding, another casualty of the state’s economic crisis.

“This is in no way a reflection of the Center’s performance. Hennepin County is in a budget crisis, and any services that are not legally mandated are getting trimmed,” said County spokesperson LouAnn Schmaus, ticking off the causes — falling property values and, most damaging of all, Governor Pawlenty’s unilateral cuts – known as unallotments – to local government aid and to the General Assistance Medical Fund.

For the last several years the county has faced “a constant struggle” to get the budget in line with the dollars coming in from the state, Schmaus told me earlier this week. It’s a number that’s been dropping every year, she said.

The Sexual Violence Center is paid $45,000 per year by Hennepin County to fund a 24-hour crisis line in the county, that dispatches advocates to help survivors of sexual violence as young as 12 navigate the medical system, according to Executive Director Pamella Zeller.

“Any time a victim walks into any hospital in Hennepin, Scott, or Carver counties, we’re paged,” said Jude Foster, the SVC’s Minneapolis program director.

The SVC also offers one-on-one counseling to survivors, support groups (including an LGBT-specific support group), a monthly free legal clinic for survivors trying to press charges, and community education.

“It’s incredibly important to have queer-specific programs,” Foster said. “When you’re vulnerable and talking about your sexual abuse history, the last thing you want to do is confront prejudice….we can interface directly at that time of intervention to help liaise between health care providers and a survivor.”

The SVC also trains forensic nurses and law enforcement officers throughout the metro area “so we can hopefully avoid those situations before they come up,” said Foster.

Zeller says the SVC is looking to fill the gap with “aggressive fundraising,” but prospects aren’t good for keeping their Hennepin County operations fully funded.

“We’ve had layoffs,” says Schmaus, the County spokesperson. “We’ve had a hiring freeze in place for years; we’ve reduced or eliminated contract services; our employees have taken leave without pay…Even with all these cuts, the property tax portion for people who live in Hennepin is proposed to be a net $664 million increase” to patch hole in Hennepin County Medical Center’s budget left by the Governor’s unallotments.

“Since [sexual assault advocacy] is not a state- or federally-mandated service, we’re considered expendable,” Zeller says. “But I cant’ think of a more violent crime than sexual assault!”

Zeller and others affiliated with the SVC have been meeting with Hennepin County commissioners, who will decide the fate of the $45,000 contract after hearings on the 16th and the 20th, to try to build support for rescinding the potential cuts. The commissioners, Zeller said, were sympathetic, “but they said basically because of major GAmC cuts and other major Human Services cuts, [Commissioner Peter] McLaughlin told us “we don’t know where money is going to come from…we can’t promise anything because the county it in pretty dire straits.”

Zeller urged anyone who supported the SVC to testify about the impact of it services at one or both hearings held by the county commissioners on November 16th and 20th. To sign up, contact the Clerk of the County Board by email ([email protected]), phone (612-348-3081), or mail (A2400 Government Center, Minneapolis, MN 55487)