By Roslyn McGilvery
Gay men in abusive relationships have nowhere to turn in Ottawa-Carleton, says a John Howard Society worker, so the organization is working to establish a referral service to provide support.
There is currently no service in the Ottawa-Carleton area that provides counselling or emergency shelter for gay male domestic abuse victims.
As a result, gay men looking for help are redirected from one organization to the next and in some cases end up calling John Howard.
But John Howard is not the best source of assistance because its mandate is on the other side of the issue: it helps those who have been in conflict with the law.
Jody Cooper, literacy co-ordinator at John Howard, decided to do something about this problem when she realized these men were getting the runaround.
She says abused gay men needing help would first call Pink Triangle Services, a gay and lesbian umbrella organization. They would refer them to the police, who would refer them to John Howard.
Cooper says she once directed a man to Pink Triangle, only to find he had called there already and had been redirected to her organization. That’s when she decided to spearhead this project.
“There is a counselling or agency gap in our community and there is no reason it can’t be filled,” she says.
She says she wants to provide these men with the same types of support offered to women in similar situations.
“If it’s going to work it will have to be a co-operative effort,” she explains. “We want to put something together so that all community agencies are aware of each other.”
She wants to form a subcommittee through which agencies can pool their talents and skills to set up a service.
“So the next time someone calls John Howard, I can refer him to a counsellor or an emergency shelter where he can receive the help he needs.”
Cooper says she has already begun discussing the project with agencies such as the Ottawa-Carleton Police Liaison Committee for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered communities.