Tonya Turner, an assistant attorney general with the domestic violence section of the Office of the Attorney General for Washington, speaks during the “Take Back The Night” panel in the Hoff Theater on Wednesday, April 29.

Some people are unaware of sexual assault within the LGBTQ community, said Tonya Turner, assistant attorney general with the Domestic Violence Section of the Office of the Attorney General in Washington.

“In my job, what I see most often is that people don’t recognize when they are in unhealthy or abusive relationships,” Turner said. “Often people are dismissive because people think, ‘Oh, we’re both men’ or ‘We’re both women,’ so it’s not really considered an abusive relationship. We’re trying to dispel that myth.”

The LGBT Equity Center and CARE to Stop Violence hosted an event Wednesday to raise awareness about sexual violence in the LGBTQ community before an audience of about 40.

CARE’s annual Take Back the Night event focuses on providing awareness about sexual assault and relationship violence, said Lauren Bloom, the event’s coordinator. Each year has a different focus, Bloom said, with Wednesday night’s event concentrating on sexual violence in the LGBTQ population.

The national Take Back the Night movement started in the 1970s as an outlet for women to speak out against sexual violence. Since then, the event evolved to advocate for all people facing sexual assault, Bloom said.

The three panelists — Turner and LGBTQ and intimate partner violence issues specialists Amy Loudermilk and Kristin Eliason — informed audience members about the resources each organization provides for members of the LGBTQ community struggling with sexual assault and intimate partner violence.

The panelists explained how it can be difficult for people within the LGBTQ community to speak out about their abusive relationships in fear of misunderstanding and lack of support.

Loudermilk, associate director of government affairs at LGBTQ youth support and suicide prevention service The Trevor Project in Washington, said about 50 percent of the transgender community either attempts or commits suicide.

“We need to think less in terms of race and create more safe spaces where people are able to share,” said Nick Sakurai, a member of the LGBT Equity Center. “And that way, when people need to come forward, they can be understood for all of who they are.”

Sakurai said sexual assault and violence are approached differently within various communities. He said a man slapping or touching a women’s rear without consent would be interpreted differently than a man slapping another man’s — even if both situations were nonconsensual.

Two videos were also shown at the event about assaults and abusive experiences within the LGBTQ community before a closed discussion session began among attendees and panelists.

“[The closed] part of the program [was] … in order to provide a safe space for survivors to feel comfortable to share openly about their experience and to have an open dialogue,” Bloom said.

Phoebe Doan, a junior English major, said she attended the event because she wanted to support CARE initiatives on this campus and speak against insensitive language regarding rape.

“A lot of people here at this school are uninformed, and people still say really insensitive things, especially over social media, like on Yik Yak, which is insane,” she said. “People need to hear from experts on how to navigate these specific things.”