1 Center for American Progress | Gay and Transgender People Face Workplace Discrimination and Harassment
Gay and Transgender People Face High Rates of Workplace Discrimination and Harassment
Data Demonstrate Need for Federal Law
Crosby Burns and Jeff Krehely May 2011
Gay and ransgender individuals coninue o ace widespread discriminaion in he workplace.* Sudies show ha anywhere rom 15 percen o 43 percen o gay people have experienced some orm o discriminaion and harassmen a he workplace. Moreover, a saggering 90 percen o ransgender workers repor some orm o harass-men or misreamen on he job. Tese workplace abuses pose a real and immediae hrea o he economic securiy o gay and ransgender workers. Congress should work quickly o pass he Employmen Non-Discriminaion Ac, or ENDA, o ensure ha all Americans are judged in he workplace based on heir skills, qualificaions, and he qualiy o heir work. Righ now, oo many o our counry’s gay and ransgender workers are being judged on heir sexual orienaion and gender iden-iyacors ha have no impac on how well a person perorms heir job.
The numbers
Te Williams Insiue on Sexual Orienaion Law and Public Policy aggregaed a num- ber o surveys o deermine he exen o which gay and ransgender workers experience discriminaion and harassmen in he workplace. Teir findings illusrae ha discrimi-naion and harassmen are pervasive:
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Fifteen percent to 43 percent of gay and transgender workers have experienced some form of discrimination on the job.
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Eigh percen o 17 percen o gay and ransgender workers repor being passed over or a job or fired because o heir sexual orienaion or gender ideniy.
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en percen o 28 percen received a negaive perormance evaluaion or were passed over or a promoion because hey were gay or ransgender.
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Seven percen o 41 percen o gay and ransgender workers were verbally or physically abused or had heir workplace vandalized.
* In this column, the term gay is used as an umbrella term for people who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual.
2 Center for American Progress | Gay and Transgender People Face Workplace Discrimination and Harassment
Sraigh coworkers also ates o he presence o discriminaion and harassmen agains LGB workers. Te Williams Insiue’s repor ound ha 12 percen o 30 percen o sraigh workers winessed discriminaion in he workorce based on sexual orienaion. Conrolled experimens have ound consisen evidence o workplace discriminaion as well. When researchers send wo ses o mached resumes o major employers, and one indicaes he applican is gay, employers warmly receive “gay” resumes ar less ofen han “sraigh” resumes. Seven ou o eigh o hese sudies confirmed he exisence o anigay employmen discriminaion.ransgender individuals encouner workplace discriminaion and harassmen a even higher raes han gays and lesbians. Earlier his year, he Naional Cener or ransgender Equaliy and he Naional Gay and Lesbian ask Force released a comprehensive sudy on ransgender discriminaion ha revealed near universal problems a he workplace:
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Ninety percent of transgender individuals have encountered some form of harass-ment or mistreatment on the job.
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Fory-seven percen o workers have experienced an adverse job oucome because hey are ransgender. Tis includes: –Fory-our percen who were passed over or a job –weny-hree percen who were denied a promoion – And 26 percen who were fired because hey were ransgender
The stories behind the numbers
Behind hese saisics are he hearbreaking sories o everyday Americans losing heir jobs based on characerisics ha have nohing o do wih heir job perormance. Vandy Beh Glenn los her job wih he Georgia General Assembly when her boss fired her because she was ransgender:
[My boss] told me I would make other people uncomortable, just by being mysel. He told me that my transition was unacceptable. And over and over, he told me it was inappropriate. Ten he fired me. I was escorted back to my desk, told to clean it out, then marched out o the building…I was devastated.
Brook Wais was gainully employed in Dallas, exas unil her manager fired her immediaely afer she saw a picure on Brook’s cell phone o Brook and her girlriend kissing on New Year’s Eve:
I didn’t lose my job because I was lazy, incompetent, or unproessional. Quite the con-trary, I worked hard and did my job very well. However that was all discarded when my boss discovered I am a lesbian. In a single aernoon, I went fom being a highly praised employee, to out o a job.
3 Center for American Progress | Gay and Transgender People Face Workplace Discrimination and Harassment
And officer Michael Carney was denied reinsaemen as a police officer in Springfield, Massachusets because he old his supervisors ha he was gay:
I’m a good cop. But I’ve lost two and a hal years o employment fighting to get that job back because I’m gay…I’m proud to be Irish-American. I’m proud to be gay, and I’m proud to be a cop in Springfield, MA.
The economic consequences of discrimination
Gay and ransgender individuals suffer rom socioeconomic inequaliies in large par due o pervasive discriminaion in he workplace. Discriminaion direcly causes job insabiliy and high urnover, resuling in greaer unemploymen and povery raes or gay and ransgender people, as well as he wage gap beween gay and sraigh workers. Consider ha gay men earn 10 percen o 32 percen less han similarly qualified he-erosexual males. Older gay and lesbian aduls experience higher povery raes han heir heerosexual counerpars. And ransgender individuals are wice as likely o be unem-ployed and are our imes as likely o live in povery. Nearly 20 percen have been or are currenly homeless.Companies should care abou hese numbers i hey are in he business o boosing profis. ime and again , researchers have demonsraed ha discriminaion diminishes
produciviy, job saisacion, and he menal and physical healh o all employees.
Enacting legislation that provides real protection
Gay and ransgender individuals’ legal and social sanding is improving despie heir unair and unequal reamen in he workplace. An increasing number o saes, munici-paliies, and businesses have adoped nondiscriminaion proecions ha prohibi discriminaion based on sexual orienaion and gender ideniy. Te public, oo, has increasingly voiced suppor or employmen proecions and work-
place airness or gay and ransgender workers. And more and more gay workers are coming ou a he workplace, a sign ha workplace climaes have become more accep-ing or a leas oleran overall.Neverheless, gay and ransgender people coninue o lack ull workplace proecions afforded o women, people o color, veerans, seniors, and he disabled. Under ederal law i is sill legal o fire someone or being gay or ransgender.
Where sae or local laws exis, gay and ransgender workers file discriminaion complains a comparable raes and in some case higher raes han oher proeced classes such as gender and race. Bu Congress has hus ar ailed o incorporae gay and ransgender workers ino employ-men laws ha shield hese and oher groups rom workplace discriminaion naionwide.
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