Peter Bridge remembers a time when he needed three or four police officers to stand between him and his violent ex-partner in a Sydney courtroom.

He also remembers calling a domestic violence hotline and being "treated like a leper".

"It was like, 'why is a male calling'?" he said. "They gave me a number for Lifeline. I thought, Lifeline is not going to get me out of here."

Peter Bridge outside the Downing Centre Court, which now has a "safe room" for victims of domestic violence in LGBTI relationships. Credit:Wolter Peeters

Mr Bridge had tried to leave his male partner several times over the course of a violent decade-long relationship – which also included extreme financial control – but he "didn't really have the money to go and find somewhere [to live] and he would have found me anywhere".