Local agency Love Doesn’t Hurt is hosting its inaugural Rock for Love event this Friday, featuring entertainment by Mama Honey, Native Blood, Chinese Dub Connection Embassy, Gloryholes, PXLS, Midtown Queer, and Magnum Dopus.
These talented local artists will help raise awareness for the organization, which provides emergency resources to victims of domestic abuse within LGBTQ+ partnerships and relationships.
“Domestic violence is one of those things that does not discriminate,” says Phillis Lewis, CEO of Love Doesn’t Hurt. “It affects all walks of life, people from many different backgrounds and demographics.”
Love Doesn’t Hurt
Songs of love
Lewis, who formerly worked at the district attorney’s office, founded Love Doesn’t Hurt in 2011 after a client of hers, who’d been a victim of domestic abuse, had trouble receiving help from a counselor Lewis had referred her to.
“Instead of focusing on the trauma that she had experienced, they were more shaming her for being a lesbian,” says Lewis. After this revelation, Lewis began vetting service providers to ensure her clients were taken care of in a more inclusive environment.
“But there weren’t a lot of shelters that were very welcoming and accommodating to the LGBTQ community,” she says.
So she founded the agency, and since then, they have helped between 200 and 300 individuals by providing emergency services and other resources to help them get back on their own two feet.
“It’s important to provide the resources because if the person doesn’t get out of the situation they’re in, they’ll fall into a sense of hopelessness,” she says. “You want to get the person into safety. That way they can thrive. Otherwise, they’re going to continue to experience that abuse.”
Rock for Love, Growlers, Friday, February 7th, 7 p.m.-12:30 a.m., $10.
