A person whose life has been marred by family violence is calling for more support services for people caught up in abusive same-sex relationships.
New figures on family violence show more people are reporting abuse, and advocates say those from sexual minorities are especially vulnerable.
While men are responsible for the overwhelming majority of family violence, they can sometimes be victims, too - in both heterosexual and same-sex relationships.
A 52-year-old man we will call John has suffered both emotional and physical abuse from a male ex-partner.
He says it started as verbal abuse and eventually turned violent.
"It was always about sex. If I said no, he got very violent, very physically violent. I wore a couple of kicks, there was a smack to the mouth, I had a black eye, I had broken ribs with him. Some of that was trying to get away from him."
John says that violence came at a particularly difficult time.
He had separated from his ex-wife and was battling to get access to their three children.
He says, while struggling to deal with those combined stresses, he snapped.
"He was physically violent and everything at home, I had her creating an anxiety about all the changeovers between us for the children, and so, in the end, I just cracked. I slapped her, and I'm still wearing the consequences of that now."
A counsellor referred John to the Victorian AIDS Council, where he took part in a behaviour change program tailored exclusively to gay and bisexual men.
The council's Kieran O'Loughlin says the program has two main objectives.
"The basic aim is to explore the violence and the underlying anger and work at ways of, firstly, getting the participants to take full responsibility for that violence, and to learn to understand how anger affects their behaviour."
He says the AIDS Council is reviewing the program and hopes to use some new government funding to expand it to cater to people from culturally diverse backgrounds and to women.
"We would like to develop a model for same-sex female relationships, and for trans relationships as well, so we're hoping that this will be the start of some momentum to actually bring about a larger change, not just for men."
Researchers believe one in three same-sex couples experience family violence.
Figures released by the Crimes Statistics Agency in Victoria show rates have been increasing over the past five years.
In 2011, 263 men faced attacks from their current partners.
Last year, that number had risen to 306.
It is a similar story for women, with 321 abused by their partners last year, up from 188 in 2011.
Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria's Dr Philomena Horsley says she suspects the actual figures are probably higher.
She says victims can be reluctant to come forward, fearing they will not be believed.
And she says there is a critical need for targeted services.
"If you're a gay man who's been physically assaulted by your partner, there's not a refuge you can go to. Who do you approach in order to find a place to be safe? If you're a lesbian who's actually abusing your partner, the men's behaviour-change programs that currently exist are not a safe place for you to be to learn to be different."
Kara House refuge is the only one in Victoria that accepts lesbians and transgender people.
But Kara's Margaret Morrissey says that inclusive policy has its challenges.
"If we get transgender or same-sex in, we have to house them in motels, and, as you can imagine, motels is not a really good place."
Australia's first Royal Commission into Family Violence is due to deliver its findings on Tuesday.
Advocates like Philomena Horsley hope one recommendation will be training for judges, magistrates and police to better equip them to understand the needs of people affected by same-sex family violence.
"We know that women have really, you know, left relationships in fear of their life, so we do think there needs to be more education for the judiciary."
Police say they recognise more needs to be done to keep the issues in the forefront for both recruits and existing officers.
Victoria Police assistant commissioner Dean McWhirter says there are clear guidelines in place.
"We have a code of practice which clearly outlines to our members considerations when they go to family-violence incidents involving the LGBTI** community, and there are considerations about how they should respond. So we have a lot of processes which we have in place already, which we need to enhance and improve on."
For John, life is now more settled.
He is in a new same-sex relationship of almost two years which he says has been free of violence.
"We're steady, the kids love him ... the two kids that have met him, they love him, they actually adore him. We went away for a holiday in January, all the four of us, and my son said to me, 'Yeah, Dad, he's a keeper. I like him.'"
