from Parenting & Family

March 2, 2007 - The online gay magazine Advocate.com reports on a recent Hong Kong study issued by a coalition of LGBT groups that gay men and women are 60% more likely to abuse their partners than straight couples.

The report found that 16% of same-sex relationships suffer from domestic abuse, while only 9% of opposite sex couples do.

According to the Advocate, "Domestic violence is often thought of only as physical violence but can also involve emotional abuse or violence, including undermining of self-confidence, sexual violence, or the threat of violence by a person who is or has been in a close relationship." The most common forms of abuse involved threats to expose a partner to family or employers.

The Advocate notes that as many as one in four LGBT people "have suffered or will suffer from domestic violence in their lives."