Barriers including low reporting rates, high rates of fear and shame, and services that catered largely to women and children have prompted calls for more inclusive approach to domestic violence services in the ACT.

The Women's Centre for Health Matters released its latest research on improving access to domestic violence support services for same-sex-attracted, transgender, intersex and gender diverse clients, at its annual general meeting on Thursday night.

Although no data was available on rates of violence in the ACT, the report said research showed gay and gender diverse people were at least as likely to experience violence at the same rate as heterosexual people.

It is estimated that one in three women in the general population experience violence from a partner, former partner or family member in their lifetime.

However, the report said family and domestic violence was often stigmatised, hidden, under-reported or not recognised as abuse by victims in the gay and gender diverse community.

It found lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) victims in the ACT were less likely to identify domestic violence in their relationships, often due to a lack of understanding that what they experienced was abuse.

The report said violence in those communities often included an added layer of shaming, fear, control and threats of exposing a partner's sexual identity.

Respondents also said there was frustration that the gay community was "forgotten" in conversations about domestic violence and there needed to be boosted awareness that it was a problem.

The report said respondents felt domestic violence was mostly seen as affecting women in heterosexual couples and children, which made them reluctant to report abuse to authorities or seek help from a support service.

Those experiences were often compounded by feelings of marginalisation, as well a sense that a focus on intimate partner abuse downplayed homophobic violence perpetrated by family members.

"There was a lack of understanding about the service delivery system and whether as an LGBTIQ person they would be accepted or indeed able to access support within that system for domestic or family violence," the report said.

They were also concerned they might not be taken seriously, met with homophobia, or that support staff might not have a solid grasp of how domestic and family violence affected people in same-sex relationships.

There was a need for flexible and confidential access, inclusiveness and informed and diverse employees, the report said.

"Given that these population groups are already marginalised and vulnerable, and their experience of domestic violence is largely invisible to the mainstream community, it is highly desirable that domestic violence services and support in the ACT be fully accessible to people of diverse genders, sexes, and sexualities to ensure that their experience of domestic and family violence does not further marginalise them," the authors said.

The authors recommended a series of measures to develop a domestic violence awareness campaign within the gay and gender diverse communities, as well as resources for ACT support services and staff to promote inclusion.

Women's Minister Yvette Berry was at the report's launch and acknowledged gendered understandings of violence created barriers for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer Canberrans accessing services.

"This report provides an indication that these same understandings about who commits and experiences violence can make it hard for people to identify those behaviours in their own relationships."

Women's Centre for Health Matters executive director Marcia Williams said the findings showed gay and gender diverse people experienced domestic and family violence in similar, but not identical ways, to heterosexual people.

"It is important that mainstream and domestic violence and crisis services are supported to build their capacity to respond appropriately and to broaden the service options for LGBTIQ people to access."