Exodus periodically claims that gay people suffer little or no discrimination nowadays.
But a new study by economist Dr. Lee Badgett and her colleagues at UCLA indicates that job-related bias remains a problem. Their report, Bias in the Workplace: Consistent Evidence of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Discrimination, reviews findings from more than 50 studies that addressed employment discrimination among sexual and gender minorities.
Among the findings:
- In one survey, 18% of the respondents reported experiencing discrimination when applying for a job or keeping a job.
- In another study, 10% of the total sample reported having been fired from a job or denied a job or promotion since age 18 because of their sexual orientation. Broken down by sexual orientation groups, 16% of lesbians and gay men said they had experienced job discrimination, compared to 6% of bisexual women and 3% of bisexual men.
Dr. Gregory Herek summarizes numerous other studies of antigay discrimination.
Thanks Mike — you know we love this stuff!
Herek’s “Beyond homophobia” is a great paper to read in parallel: a very readable walk through “sexual sexual stigma, heterosexism, and sexual prejudice”.
https://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/pdf/10.1525/srsp.2004.1.2.6
This may seem off-topic, but not at all. It relates to the tremendous degree of denial that some ex-gays are willing to go to to justify their own reality. Here is last night’s quick news clip of Florida Rep Bob Allen who had just been busted for soliciting oral sex from a male cop. His denial is over the top. He says he was there because he helped build the park and would never do anything so disgusting. It is a fascinating window into the level of self-deception of these guys: https://www.wftv.com/video/13665165/detail.html