A new survey released by the Center for American Progress (CAP) reveals an unsettling trend in anti-LGBTQ discrimination and how it’s changing people’s behaviors.
The study, which was just released this week, found that one in four LGBTQ-identifying Americans have suffered discrimination because of their sexual orientation or gender identity in the past year.
Coincidentally, it was the same year Donald Trump ran a ruthless presidential campaign that was based on hatred and intolerance alongside a staunch homophobe… and won.
Here are some of the study’s findings:
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- 38.5 percent said that 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.
- 68.5 percent of respondents said that discrimination at least somewhat negatively affected their psychological well-being.
David was one of the survey’s nearly 900 respondents. He works at a Fortune 500 company with a formal nondiscrimination policy for LGBTQ people. But he says that alone is not enough to make him feel comfortable at work.
“I’m trying to minimize the bias against me by changing my presentation in the corporate world,” he says in his interview with CAP. “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’s not alone in feeling this way.
15.3% of the survey’s respondents said they’ve consciously changed the way they talk to avoid discrimination, 14.7% consciously changed their style of dress, and 10.6% consciously changed their mannerisms.
But the survey’s most alarming findings were the number of LGBTQ people who are retreating back into the closet.
36.5% of respondents said they keep their relationships hidden, and 42% say they only talk about them in vague terms. 31.2% said they avoided speaking about LGBTQ issues in social situations, and 23.9% said discrimination has caused them to avoid social situations altogether.
“Discrimination is doing its dirty work,” Laura Durso, vice president of the LGBT Research and Communications Project at CAP, tells Vox. “It’s trying to keep us from talking about our lives [and] from talking about solutions that are needed in order to address discrimination.”
The survey concludes with a call for better civil rights laws that protect LGBTQ people from discrimination:
To ensure that federal civil rights laws explicitly protect LGBT people, Congress should pass the Equality Act, a comprehensive bill banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, public accommodations, housing, credit, and federal funding, among other provisions. Likewise, state and local governments should pass comprehensive nondiscrimination protections for all. Comprehensive nondiscrimination protections have more support from voters than ever before: A majority in every state in the country support nondiscrimination laws.
“The civil rights struggle is a constant one,” Durso says. “I do think that [nondiscrimination laws] help to marginalize the idea of discrimination against LGBT people and move us toward a world in which that discrimination just happens less often.”
thomas prentice
Well all that gay marriage and gays-in-the-military and all really improved things, now didn’t it?
1EqualityUSA
Back of the bus, thomas
KaiserVonScheiss
“As progressives, we believe America should be a land of boundless opportunity, where people can climb the ladder of economic mobility. We believe we owe it to future generations to protect the planet and promote peace and shared global prosperity. And we believe an effective government can earn the trust of the American people, champion the common good over narrow self-interest, and harness the strength of our diversity.”
Yeah, the CAP sounds trustworthy.
If actually true, the report is disturbing, but I’m sceptical considering the source.
Also, what’s the point of blaming Trump for other people’s actions? It’s just another attempt to get a jab at Trump and nothing more. If you wan’t to criticise Trump, criticise him for something he’s actually done.
natekerchel
You dont have to have ‘done’ anything for it be known that you are homophobic or racist or anything else. Trump has made clear his homophobia right from the start when he told us that his daughter and son in law had talked him out of signing an executive order which would have adversely affected lgbt people. He has appointed many homophobes to positions within his ‘administration’. That is evidence enough already. Are you people really still trying to pretend that trump is not a homophobe? No one believes that. I suspect not even you.
mhoffman953
@natekerchel
“Trump has made clear his homophobia right from the start when he told us that his daughter and son in law had talked him out of signing an executive order which would have adversely affected lgbt people”
When did he say this?
o.codone
Hey nate, why don’t you name your sources instead of just shooting your mouth off. NOTHING you said about Trump is true. You just made that shit up. No? Then prove it bitch. Go ahead, we’re waiting.
Donston
A big reason why Trump got into the office was due to “progressive” backlash. The election just allowed people who had repressed their hate and/or resentment towards certain groups to be more be open with it. But that’s hardly the only factor. Homosexuality has become pedestrian but it’s hardly been “normalized” and it’s still an shameful, emasculating and isolating thing for most men. I saw begin to build up almost immediately after gay marriage was passed.
1EqualityUSA
grab your jacks and run home.
natekerchel
Trump got into the White House for one reason only – the electoral college. He did not win more votes than Clinton – so where is this so called ‘backlash’ that people keep mentioning? He got 46% of the 55% votes cast – that is not a backlash by any standard. I agree that a ‘backlash’ was due after gay marriage was achieved. There is always a backlash after major change. It is extremely likely that all homophobes who voted will have voted for trump despite his ridiculous pose of friendly feelings towards lgbt people. A man so filled with hate for certain minorities was never going to be pro-lgbt. Years ago, before entering the Senate, Clinton talked about abolishing the electoral college – so it not a new idea. She must be regretting not at least trying to follow through on that when she had the chance.
MykeLWulf
@natekerchel Although I agree it was an unfortunate underpinning of the electoral college that won Trump the presidency, the backlash is visible everywhere… predominantly with the fact that you had a man spewing the most hateful one sided bigotry I’ve seen in a nonfictionalized world, and that in spite of the level of hate and anger he spewed, he still got 46% of those votes cast. That’s still nearly a quarter of our population.
And unfortunately, those people are also the loudest, angriest, and most visible in most communities and neighborhoods. The rest of my neighbors may not agree with him, but nobody does or says anything when my next door neighbor starts shouting at the “nigs and spics” walking by his house. It’s the fact that even if you don’t actually agree, your silence tells everyone you do.
mhoffman953
@natekerchel
Donston is actually right. There is “progressive backlash” in America. If you don’t believe that, then why during the past 8 years of the Obama administration have the Democrats suffered a net loss of 1,042 government positions including congressional, senatorial, governorship, and other seats including the presidency? That is the backlash that these people keep mentioning.
This has nothing to do with gay marriage. This backlash stems from the violent left and how radical they’ve become with their screeches of social justice.
Many independents and moderate Democrats are voting Republican because they see what’s going on such as the left trying to shut down free speech by breaking windows and burning down their college campus, BLM protesters blocking streets and burning down the businesses in their community, mayors and governors showing favoritism toward illegals over American citizens, and many more examples and people are getting sick of it.
Sure you can disagree by naming places that will be liberal for generations like California and New York and how they vote, but if you look at states that are considered swing states and look at how they’re voting, they’re all leaning right at the moment.
1EqualityUSA
GOP can’t do anything right these days. Rachel Maddow on the conference call to try to spin the new spending bill that pathetically is a “no win” for GOP all around, except more military spending, which wasn’t at odds with Dems. Fun segment:
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
Danny595
How can Graham Gremore call these results an unsettling trend unless he knows what the results of prior surveys were?
mhoffman953
Exactly. Maybe these numbers are an improvement. We don’t know this because the group who did the survey only did this survey in January 2017 without any prior data.
The group who did the survey is the Center for American Progress (CAP) which was founded by Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager and former adviser for Obama, John Podesta.
These numbers would be more significant if they were done by a non-partisan group who is free of any misleading statistics.
The survey says it only asked 857 LGBT people (such a small basis), but fails to disclose how many of these people are gay men, lesbian women, bisexuals, or transgenders. It also fails to identify the ages of the respondents or where they are located in the US or their races. It simply states the respondents were “diverse”.
Its also stated from their website that this was an online survey and that in addition to the survey, the authors used social media to solicit personal stories. All of the above should raise red flags about the validity of this so-called survey
o.codone
In other words this is just MORE made up fake bullshit from butt-hurt progressives with their heads up their asses. Nobody believes anything the media says anymore. Nothing.
Archie
The world is a funny place. Where I work a conservative told me that he didn’t care about me being gay but a democrat (who doesn’t know I’m gay) is always making cracks about ‘those LGBT’ in San Francisco and calls my red sports car a ‘barbie car’.
Donston
Being a flat-out bigot, self-rejecting, resentment towards certain groups- these things just aren’t cool anymore and will give you no social ground. So, it’s important to let people know that you actually don’t care about anyone’s orientation, race, religion, gender before you slowly reveal your true self. The strategy for “educated bigots” has always been about finding the best way to muddle and disguise the hate/resentment and looking for excuses for its existence.
Donston
And of course, people make this topic about something else entirely.
I guess I really do need to take a break from this place. When there is an actual interesting topic/article the comment section gets buried with homos desperately trying to set themselves apart from the “radical left” (I consider myself moderate btw), spammers and just the flat-out delusional.
I will say they post far too many antagonistic anti-Trump articles (there’s at least one anti-Trump article everyday) while ignoring a ton of other things that need discussing. I guess it’s all about getting clicks.
Dave084
There’s no such thing as too many antagonistic anti-Trump articles. That worthless buffoon must always be held accountable for his utter and complete incompetence and childish arrogance.
Notright
That’s pretty disturbing! I just finished an article that talks about how its better for gay men to be married and out. https://gayinternationaldating.com/better-gay-men-married-study-shows/
natekerchel
mhofman and the very rude and childish o codone – you know very well that trump told the entire world via twitter that his daughter and son in law had held him back from signing an EO – of course he did not say it would adversely affect lgbt people. Even he would not be that stupid. But now we see that thier som called influence is over as he prepares to sign that order on thursdau apparently – NOT made up o codone. How will you supposedly gay men seek to justify that? Religious freedom is a barely disguised attack on lgbt rights. Nothing you say will justify this regressive move. So before you people scream for evidence – its on its way. I suggest o codone that you attend a decent finishing school so that you can have your manners brought up to human levels. Dont call me a bitch – it is childish and inaccurate. mhoffman – on your other points about the so-called backlash – there is a certain pattern of behavior that appears as regular as clockwork – the swing between right and left. Such swings are not considered as a backlash because they are a normal part of the voting pattern. The backlash I was responding to was the alleged trump backlash – for which there is no evidence given his poor vote count. I will remind you again – he did not even get 50% of the votes cast – hardly a backlash. Any republican candidate could have expected to do as least as well as that, if not better. For other results you mention – there are many reasons why candidates lose seats – not all of them are to do with the national situation. A study would have to be done to find out why people voted as they did before any claims can be made.