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Loading ...Study illustrates need for LGBT anti-discrimination laws
11.18.2008 2:59pm EST
(Los Angeles, California) A study released Tuesday by a University of California – Los Angeles think tank has found workplace discrimination against LGBT employees is as widespread as that against women and visible minorities.
Currently, 20 states and the District of Columbia prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation; 13 of those states also prohibit gender identity discrimination.The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law found that laws prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination in the workplace are used as frequently by LGBT workers as laws prohibiting sex and race discrimination are used by women and people of color.
Analyzing employment discrimination complaints filed with state agencies in states prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination, the study found that five out of 10,000 LGBT people in the workforce file sexual orientation employment discrimination complaints each year, compared to sex discrimination complaints filed by five out of 10,000 women in the workforce and race discrimination complaints filed by seven out of 10,000 people of color in the workforce.
“Our analysis directly questions the popular argument that sexual orientation anti-discrimination laws are unnecessary,” said study co-author M.V. Lee Badgett, research director at the Williams Institute. “They are needed and utilized by the LGBT workforce.”
The report also addresses any worry that expanding employment discrimination to LGBT people would overwhelm state and federal agencies. “Given the size of the LGB population and the filing rates of LGB people, any increase in complaint intake would be negligible,” the study concluded.
Christopher Ramos, a researcher who also worked on the study, said that in eight states sexual orientation claims surpass sex claims; the same is true for three states when compared to race claims.
“Clearly, LGBT employees are not only facing a certain level of discrimination, but also, taking advantage of protective state policies,” Ramos said.”
While almost half of the states in the country have some form of LGBT protection there is no federal coverage for LGBT workers.
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, passed the US House in 2007 but without protections for the transgendered.
The legislation would make it illegal for employers to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation in hiring, firing, promoting or paying an employee.
When ENDA returns it is likely to include gender identity protections.
ENDA, originally introduced by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass), included transpeople, but Frank removed those protections in committee saying it would be impossible to pass.
More than a dozen LGBT groups immediately distanced themselves from the legislation. Frank and the Human Rights Campaign now say they will fight to ensure an inclusive ENDA is passed.
Brad Sears, executive director of the Williams Institute, noted that over 3.1 million LGBT adults live in states that do not provide workplace protections.
“As the debate surrounding the necessity of LGBT workplace protections begins again in Congress we must keep in mind the fragile economic position of these LGBT employees and their families,” Sears said in a statement.
What? LGBTs suffer almost the same amount of discrimination as other minorities? How dare you statistics for being so numerically close. We can’t compare numbers!
/sarcasm
i wonder what it is like for those who are both a minority and gay. Wait i forgot Minorities aren’t gay right..
What is with the notion that the GLBT community comes only in “white” skin. Have people forgotten that their are gay people who are NOT white? I’m a Latino Gay Male, and all of my gay friends are “minorities” on two or three fronts, women of color and lesbians or men of color and lesbians. We come in every ehtnicity, race, creed, gender and economic status. Lets stop making GLBT issues one dimensional.
What is with the notion that the GLBT community comes only in “white” skin. Have people forgotten that there are gay people who are NOT white? I’m a Latino Gay Male, and all of my gay friends are “minorities” on two or three fronts, they non-white women of and gay or non-white men and gay. We come in every ehtnicity, race, creed, gender and economic status. Lets stop making GLBT issues one dimensional
Uhhh…gays are a minority. A black gay person would be a member of two minority groups, and thus experience two types of discrimination. A white gay person is a member of one minority group. Gay women experience discrimination based on sex and sexual orientation.
When we say gay, we mean all gays. No one is part of only one demographic or group.
[Screw] you, “Gay Black Person”! It is the black community and other racial minorities who don’t give a damn about the rights of LGBT people and constantly antagonize LGBT people. It IS NOT the other way around. So stop your [freaking] whining about “white privilege” and get a [darn] life.
And for the record, I am half black and half asian, and I do not think the LGBT community is racist. It is you idiotic Black Panther Party members who are racist against white people. So shut the [freak] up and stop whining already.
we are getting all mucked up with all of these terms.. Terms to separate us all ! We are ALL The same regardless of color and we are all the same regardless of our sexual orientation.. ! period! Same same ! stop with this word and minority and does that include this or that.. its all Bullshit! HUMANS! period !
RadicalRealist,
Could you watch your language please? Thanks.
Sincerely,
James
I transitioned on the workplace and was quickly shuffled off to a clerical position. I was told using the porto-potty in the park was “no discernable hardship”, I was frequently told to “shut up”. It was amazing how stupid I became “over-night”. They tried to make my life miserable and I eventually had to seek treatment to avoid suicide. I wouldn’t quit so they eliminated my position.
Since PA has no protections for gender identity and took my severance and went away quietly to start over somewhere else. So…I’m not part of those statistics and my experience was all too common. Is this story really a surprise to ANYONE?
You kidding me, right? After a fifty year free ride since the revision of the ALIMPC and numerous EEOC rulings, the LGBT community still claims discrimination. I guess after having the community bitchslapped in 1998 for the sexual assault of a social conservative on the job and the resulting protections for social conservatives in the public and private sector from unlawful dismissal by LGBT personnel and management (43 years later) that the community must once engage in passive-aggressive behavior instead of addressing legitimate reasons for dismissal. Unbelieveable.
Whatever happened to Celebrate Diversity?
A, these terms are our adjectives. They describe who we are. We should not forget who we are because others discriminate against us. We are human, but we are not the same. We go through different experiences in life because we come in different colors and genders and shades of gay.
Rachel, I am not part of these statistics either because my state has no protections for sexual orientation.