Last week Mujeres Latinas en Accion, a Latina advocacy organization, and Amigas Latinas, a support agency for lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning Latinas, released a study that provides insight in the identities and experiences of LGBT latinas. The study sample included 300 women within the Chicago area.

While the study itself provides some intersting data (see below) the reporting around the data has been problematic. Several news headings around the study have only focused on the high rates of domestic violence among LB latinas (nearly half of the women surveyed were either abused or perpetrators of abuse). Some of these salacious headings have said the following: "Lesbian Latinas Like to Punch Their Girlfriends" (courtesy of glbt world new's Twitter account) and "A Lot of Lesbian Latinas are Punching Their Girlfriends" (courtesy of guanabee.com).

Along with the fact these headlines ignore essential data in the study about identity, service delivery and general acceptance of Latina LBT women in their communities, they ALSO immediately create this perception that all queer latinas are either beating their significant others or being beaten up. I believe that when discussing various studies and other issues affecting the queer community if we only highlighting one component, particularly if other aspects of the study are equally compelling, we are only presenting a small component of the community.

A quote from another article reporting this story sums up my concerns: "Being studied is a double-edged sword. Awareness can lead to acceptance, but also to stereotyping." While I believe that data can provide the means for providers, researchers, etc. to understand the community, if it is not fully interpreted there can be negative consequences.

Findings:

Identity
50% lesbian/gay/homosexual
9% bisexual
6.5% queer
4.5% uncertain/questioning
10% didn't use labels
NOTE: When asked about butch/femme lables -9.1% identified as butch, 26% as femme and 29.2% did  not identify with either label

Findings on Access to Services:
17% of the women said they were discriminated against in LGBT-focused agencies that serve predominantly
white/caucasian LGBT individuals
25% of the women said they felt discriminated against in agencies serving primarily latinos

Findings on Domestic Violence:
Half of respondents said a partner had tried to keep them from their family members
43% reported being hit by a partner
45% of respondents addmitted to hitting or punching a partner

Findings on Acceptance in the Community
Half of the participants said there is racism in the wider LGBT community
Over half of respondents feel the Latino community does not accept LGBT individuals