While OutFront provides similar services to the Sexual Violence Center, they say losing the SVC’s services in Hennepin County would be “a travesty.”

Rebecca Wagonner-Kloek, the Anti-Violence Program Director at OutFront gushed about the SVC’s services. “They do it incredibly well…The SVC offers so much to the community that goes beyond direct services.”

In addition to 24-hour, on-call, LGBT-specific help for survivors of sexual violence trying to navigate the health and legal systems, and support groups, the SVC provides extensive training to Emergency Room nurses and law enforcement officers, to help them be culturally sensitive when responding to a report of sexual violence against an LGBT person.

“There are a lot of people who count on them, and the LGBT community relies heavily on the SVC,” Wagonner-Kloek said.

The support and advocacy services provided by the SVC wouldn’t entirely disappear, she noted, because OutFront offers similar services to all LGBT survivors of sexual violence in Minnesota. However, many would fall between the cracks, Wagonner-Kloek said. “At no point can one program do all the work. There’s more than enough work for everyone.”