New research from the Center for American Progress shows that LGBT people across the country continue to experience pervasive discrimination that negatively impacts all aspects of their lives. In response, LGBT people make subtle but profound changes to their everyday lives to minimize the risk of experiencing discrimination, often hiding their authentic selves.
1 in 4 LGBT people report experiencing discrimination in 2016
Over the past decade, the nation has made unprecedented progress toward LGBT equality. But to date, neither the federal government nor most states have explicit statutory nondiscrimination laws protecting people on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. LGBT people still face widespread discrimination: Between 11 percent and 28 percent of LGB workers report losing a promotion simply because of their sexual orientation, and 27 percent of transgender workers report being fired, not hired, or denied a promotion in the past year. Discrimination also routinely affects LGBT people beyond the workplace, sometimes costing them their homes, access to education, and even the ability to engage in public life.
Data from a nationally representative survey of LGBT people conducted by CAP shows that 25.2 percent of LGBT respondents has experienced discrimination because of their sexual orientation or gender identity in the past year. The January 2017 survey shows that, despite progress, in
discrimination remained a widespread threat to LGBT people’s well-being, health, and economic security.
Among people who experienced sexual orientation- or gender-identity-based discrimination in the past year:
68.5 percent reported that discrimination at least somewhat negatively affected their psychological well-being.
43.7 percent reported that discrimination negatively impacted their physical well-being.
47.7 percent reported that discrimination negatively impacted their spiritual well-being.
38.5 percent reported discrimination negatively impacted their school environment.
52.8 percent reported that discrimination negatively impacted their work environment.
56.6 report it negatively impacted their neighborhood and community environment.
Unseen harms
LGBT people who don’t experience overt discrimination, such as being fired from a job, may still find that the threat of it shapes their lives in subtle but profound ways. David M.,* a
gay man, works at a Fortune 500 company with a formal, written nondiscrimination policy. “I couldn’t be fired for being gay,” he said. But David went on to explain, “When partners at the firm invite straight men to squash or drinks, they don’t invite the women or gay men. I’m being passed over for opportunities that could lead to being promoted.”
“I’m trying to minimize the bias against me by changing my presentation in the corporate world,” he added. “I lower my voice in meetings to make it sound less feminine and avoid wearing anything but a black suit. … When you’re perceived as feminine—whether you’re a woman or a gay man—you get excluded from relationships that improve your career.”
David is not alone. Survey findings and related interviews show that LGBT people hide personal relationships, delay health care, change the way they dress, and take other steps to alter their lives because they could be discriminated against.
Maria S.,* a queer woman who lives in North Carolina, described a long commute from her home in Durham to a different town where she works. She makes the drive every day so that she can live in a city that’s friendly to LGBT people. She loves her job, but she’s not out to her boss. “I wonder whether I would be let go if the higher-ups knew about my sexuality,” she says.
CAP’s research shows that stories such as Maria’s and David’s are common. The below table shows the percentage of LGBT people who report changing their lives in a variety of ways in order to avoid discrimination.
Comments