A new Human Rights Campaign reports shocking data about the ongoing coronavirus pandemic: LGBTQ Americans are the population hardest hit by the economic collapse due to the social distance lockdown.
Reuters reports that queer Americans are 30% more likely than their straight counterparts to have lost their jobs since May. Figures also show that LGBTQ people are 20% more likely to have had their hours cut.
“As some communities start to go back to work … we’re seeing that LGBTQ people, especially LGBTQ people of color and transgender people, are being left behind,” HRC President Alphonso David said in a statement. “The data continues to reinforce what we already know – that the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic is not over because the pandemic is not over, especially for communities who were already marginalized in this country.”
Related: Homophobic ‘Focus on the Family’ is latest COVID hotspot
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Perhaps it comes as no surprise, but figures rise when examining the effect on LGBTQ people of color. 44% of queer people of color report having their hours reduced. Black and Latino LGBTQ Americans are also 70% more likely to have lost their jobs than the general populace.
In addition to the job loss reports, 50% of LGBTQ people report taking a pay cut due to economic woes during the pandemic. When confined to queer people of color, that number increases by 150%.
Though the COVID-19 outbreak has wreaked international havoc, the United States has been hardest hit by the pandemic, largely due to the inaction of the Trump Administration and conflicting information coming out of government agencies. To date, the US has reported more than 6.7 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, with deaths topping 187,000 at the time of this writing.
Kangol2
Covid-19’s effects have been brutal everywhere, but the gross incompetence and malevolence of Don the Con’s administration have made them even worse. It’s no surprise that LGBTQ workers, and Black and Latinx LGBTQ workers in particular, have suffered the most. It’s also probably in part why the administration has not done more to turn things around, even accounting for its gross ineptitude.
dre23222
You said it and hit on the nail with your comment.
winemaker
Hate to burst everyone’s bubble but in California the extended lock down is all on gavin ‘giveaway the store and everything else for free ‘ newsom, pure and simple.. When other places started opening up, this clown said one thing one day and contradicted himself or went back on what he said the previous day. He had and still has no concrete plans and makes things up as it pleases him or makes things up as he goes along. and anyone with at least half a brain can figure this out. All this despite thousands of lives and businesses being destroyed. There’s an exodus of residents and businesses leaving California and who can blame them? Yet sadly the gay community supports this clown and destroyer of San Francisco. What’s the charm here? He’s done ZILCH for most of us and if you don’t believe this, take a good look at California for an eye and nose opener. Where’re the thinking and rational among us allowing this BS to fester and go on and on? BTW: Trump had nothing to do with California’s draconian extended on and off again lock down that’s been pretty much political since mid June, all to shift the blame on him, fact.!
xiphoid76
I dislike Trump, but honestly the economy going under is the fault of the Democrats, not the Republicans. Jobs are being lost in cities and states with extended lock downs encouraged by the Democrats, not the Republicans. For the first time in my life I am thinking of voting Republican because I see what the Democrats have done to my beautiful city of Minneapolis.
Cam
@winemaker
You and other right wing trolls KEEP trying to attack the wealthy blue states to deflect from Republican’s failures.
People who move out of California move out because they can’t afford to live there. People who leave red states leave because there are no jobs or they can have a better life someplace else.
California ran deficits under Republicans, and once Democrats gained a supermajority, Ca ran multi billion dollar surpluses. Meanwhile, Kansas tried absolute Republican economic theory and went bankrupt and tried to get out of fully funding it’s schools. As did Oklahoma even with it’s oil money.
So your panic to try to deflect from the fact that red states live off of wealthy blue states pretty much exposes your agenda.
But nice try.
Chrisk
xiphoid76
So all it takes for you to align yourself with a party opposed to your civil rights is a minor inconvenience to yourself. Oh noes. I can’t get my hair done or do the gym. Ooohhhhh….waaa…..That inconvenience has cost almost 200, 000 people their lives but I guess that means nothing to you.
Rethugs don’t give a shit about you. You’re just a f*ggot to them and a dumbass to us.
Chrisk
Cam
Never understood Queer Republicans. I guess it’s like the Jewish Capos. At least they did it to just survive though. Homocons like Winemaker will trade their civil rights or least yours for a few extra $ off their taxes and of coarse the hate the same people thing.
That and the rabid hate they have for California which I’m part of. Yes it’s expensive as fu*k here and not gonna lie we have a huge homeless population due in part to that. It’s the Democrats that are tying to address the problem though. A liveable minimum wage, Healthcare for all, affordable education, etc. Rethugs love socialism for themselves but hate anything at all that helps the poor.
xiphoid76
Chris
I am voting Republican this time because I believe in law and order. I support the police. My city of Minneapolis is in shambles because of the Democrats here. Can not and will not live in this fear anymore. Plus, happy to stand up to bullies like you who think and vote only on one issue – your sexual orientation. That is sad – look at the issues and vote for who you believe in. Look up Dave Rubin and read his book – it explains from another gay man much better than I on why I am leaving the Democratic party. Good luck with your continue trolling and bullying. Have a great day.
Kangol2
Xiphoid, I hear you, but I’m going to let you in on a little secret. As it turns out, in the last four decades whenever we have Republican presidents in office the economy tanks. It happened on Don the Con’s watch (and the US economy had officially gone into recession in February 2020, before Covid-19 struck), on George W. Bush’s watch (2007-8), on George H. W. Bush’s watch, on Reagan’s watch, etc. Clinton pulled the country out of the Reagan & HW Bush recessions, and Obama pulled the country out of the (until-now) worst recession since the Great Depression (which also occurred under a Republican, Herbert Hoover).
Republican policies at the Federal level always cause crises. I would also suggest to you that at the city and state level, things are far worse economically, socially, etc., than they were under Obama, and even worse than under W Bush, Clinton, etc. People keep repeating that Democratic mayors are presiding over crime-ridden cities, but the truth is that crime is exploding all over; in Miami and Fort Worth, both cities run by Republicans in Republican-led states, crime is higher than in New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, etc. The horribly managed Covid-19 crisis is only making things worse.
There is a reason that five European countries with a population nearly equal to the US had 97 Covid-19 cases per day last week and the US had over 880. This country is being run into the ground by Don the Con and you may not see it, but I urge you, please look at everything holistically. HE, Don the Con, is burning this country to the ground!
Thad
I can appreciate this. So many LGBT people work in service industries which were totally shut down during lockdown. I’m fortunate in that I’m semi-retired and was reducing my work hours. But I didn’t expect them going to zero.
ltm29
try living in Melbourne, Australia where literally everything has been shut down! i don’t get back to work until november, despite my work having a chance of not opening back up
dmanhart
Funny how every societal group is hit the hardest by COVID19. Blacks, women, Hispanics, the elderly, children.
It reminds me of the joke newspaper writers tell: “The world will explode tomorrow. Women, minorities will be hit hardest.”
pthomps
To wine and xiph: Blaming Democrats for the problems of big cities is like blaming doctors for illnesses. Correlation isn’t causation. Firefighters don’t create fires. And to dman: who did you leave out of your list? Straight white middle-aged men. Shocker!
Kangol2
Plus crime is exploding in GOP-led cities like Fort Worth and Miami. Both are also in states run (into the ground) by Republicans. All of these crises are happening under Don the Con. He has only screwed up again and again. Even the economy doesn’t match the last four years under Obama. The difference is that he promotes hate, rage, and violence, and lies endlessly about everything, which to some people is better than a functioning economy, a horrible virus under control, and millions not facing eviction, homelessness, hunger, illness and death, etc.
stanhope
Doll those dimwit comments blaming the democrats are likely russian bots or trump operatives…nobody gay is that ignorant..nice try bitches.
Cam
Meanwhile Trump and Republicans don’t want another stimulus package unless it exempts people and companies who have lied and harmed their employees.
DavidIntl
Although I am of course not happy with the situation, it does make perfect sense that the gay community would be affected more than the median citizen. We do tend to cluster in cities – which have been more affected by the virus – and in ‘blue states’ – which have taken a more draconian approach in shutting things down – and we are more likely to employed in the sectors like arts/entertainment, travel and hospitality which have been hardest hit.