Facing an enormous budget crunch brought on by the elimination of Minnesota’s system of providing healthcare for the homeless and the poorest of the poor, Hennepin County must cut hundreds of thousands of dollars in other programs and raise taxes in order to make sure Hennepin County Medical Center can continue to provide healthcare to the poor. One of the contracts on the chopping block pays for – among other things – services tailored to LGBT survivors of sexual violence, provided by Minneapolis’ Sexual Violence Center.

County Commissioners are holding hearings this week to try to gauge the impact of potential cuts, but after Monday’s first hearing, Pamela Zeller, Executive Director of the SVC, said “we didn’t hear anything that gave us a whole lot of hope.”

The main problem is the size of potential cuts: services similar to the SVC’s are also getting cut, said Commissioner Gail Dorfman. She and two other commissioners are looking at creating a solution that can preserve funding for some of the other groups threatened by the cuts. “There are three of us up here – Jan Callison, Peter McLaughlin, and myself – who are very concerned about this,” she said. “We just need a fourth vote.”

There are seven commissioners on the County Board.

Instead of cutting other programs to make sure services for survivors of sexual violence don’t whither in Hennepin County, Dorfman says she wants to explore dipping into the County’s already low contingency fund, a move she says may be unpopular with her fellow commissioners.

At stake is the only around-the-clock support for survivors of sexual violence. If you went into any hospital in Hennepin County today 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 against homophobia or transphobia from hospital staff, if need be, and who could help you navigate the system. These advocates are either lesbian, gay, bi, or trans themselves, or are extensively trained allies, and they’re free of charge – no insurance needed. The Center also provides a range of support groups and legal counseling for all survivors of sexual violence, according to the SVC’s Zeller.

If the SVC is forced to eliminate its services in Hennepin County, there will be limited services available for LGBT survivors of sexual violence, provided by OutFront’s Violence Prevention program, but they’re not thrilled at being on their own.

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