Sexual Assault Disclosure Among Sexual Minority Individuals: Associations With "Outness," Perceived Stigma, Community Belonging, and Perceptions of Police

Individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, questioning, and other sexual minority orientations (LGBQ+) are significantly more likely to experience a sexual assault than people who identify as heterosexual. To date, research on barriers to sexual assault disclosure has been conducted almost exclusively on heterosexual women. Participants (n = 168, 69.6% identified as a cisgender woman, 58.9% as White, and 51.8% as bisexual) who identified as LGBQ+ and were between the ages of 18 and 30 participated in a cross-sectional, online study that assessed disclosure of unwanted sexual experiences and factors that may be associated with the decision to disclose. Survivors who had disclosed their sexual assault scored higher on a measure of sexual orientation "outness" than survivors who had not disclosed; survivors who had disclosed their sexual assault also scored higher on a measure of perceived stigma regarding sexual assault. However, there were no differences between survivors who disclosed and those who had not disclosed on sense of belonging to the LGBQ+ community. Additionally, perceptions of police did not differ between survivors who did and did not disclose to the police. These findings call attention to the degree of outness as a possible facilitator of sexual assault disclosure; however, further research on this relation is needed to establish directionality. These results highlight the relationship between stigma and sexual assault disclosure, supporting the importance of refraining from potentially stigmatizing responses to sexual assault disclosure. Future research should examine additional barriers to sexual assault disclosure that may be unique for survivors who identify as LGBQ+. Public Significance Statement The current study findings suggest sexual orientation "outness" may facilitate sexual assault disclosure among sexual minority survivors of sexual assault, which may be because many sexual minority survivors worry their sexual orientation will be outed if they disclose. Concerningly, results also suggest that sexual minority survivors may experience stigmatizing reactions to disclosures of sexual assault. These findings underscore the importance providing supportive responses to disclosures of sexual assault and sexual orientation.