By Jaime Grant, Ph.D., Policy Institute Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
The state of the U.S. workplace for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people — transgender Americans in particular — is absolutely shameful. Thankfully, our nation is on the cusp of seriously addressing this injustice: Congress is currently considering the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would prohibit workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The state of the U.S. workplace for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people — transgender Americans in particular — is absolutely shameful. Thankfully, our nation is on the cusp of seriously addressing this injustice: Congress is currently considering the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would prohibit workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The House Committee on Education and Labor held a hearing on the legislation today, and got an earful about the dire need to enact these fundamental protections.
There is little debate that a solution to the nation’s current economic crisis hinges on the talents and expertise of a fully functioning workplace. LGBT people have tremendous assets to bring to a nation laboring to maintain its competitiveness in a struggling global economy. Protecting these assets from being squandered to anti-LGBT bias must not only be a moral priority for a nation founded on fairness and equity, but also an economic imperative as we collectively search for solutions.
A 2007 meta-analysis by the Williams Institute of 50 studies of workplace discrimination against LGBT people found consistent evidence of bias in the workplace. LGBT people report a range of anti-LGBT behaviors, including overt discrimination (16-68 percent), firing or denial of employment (8-17 percent), denial of promotion or negative performance evaluation (10-28 percent) and even verbal or physical violence (7-41 percent).
The situation seems most extreme in the case of transgender workers, as spotlighted in preliminary data from a forthcoming, groundbreaking survey on discrimination against transgender people in the U.S. from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE).
Data from this survey show that discrimination in employment against transgender people is a nearly universal experience. Ninety-seven percent (97 percent) of our sample reports being mistreated or harassed at work. Nearly half (47 percent) lost their jobs, were denied a promotion, or denied a job as a direct result of being transgender. These statistics are alarming and have multiple, spiraling negative affects on quality of life.
The survey also finds devastating rates of unemployment — twice the rate of the general population for our sample during the time of the study. High unemployment had predictably detrimental effects on income, with participants in our study experiencing twice the level of extreme poverty as those in the general population.
One study participant, Dylan Scholinski, has lived in a state of intermittent homelessness for more than two decades despite writing an award-winning book about his institutionalization as a teenager for not conforming to traditional "standards of femininity." A transgender man, Scholinski has a master’s degree and yet lives in the lowest census income bracket, of $10,000 per year, or less. Presently, he directs an unfunded LGBT youth art project dedicated to safe spaces for gender expression and identity. He continues to search for sustainable work, without success.
Preliminary data represent the tip of the iceberg in terms of impact on quality of life. In the weeks to come, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and NCTE will release data on housing instability, inability to access shelter, poor health care provision, harassment and violence at school and other alarming outcomes of far-reaching discrimination.
Without work, transgender people are at the mercy of systems that are unwelcoming at best and more often, actively hostile. Moreover, anti-transgender discrimination, harassment and violence go unchecked in a federal climate where protective legislation is portrayed as "special" or "unnecessary."
Passing ENDA is crucial because it will create a federal standard and baseline of respect and equal treatment for LGBT people as a whole, while specifically addressing a desperate need for protections for transgender people in the workplace.
Contact your member of Congress: Employment protections for LGBT people are not incidental or superfluous, especially during an economic crisis — they are essential to accessing the opportunity all Americans seek in providing their gifts and talents to a nation struggling to recover. You can
take action right here.