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LGBTQ+ JUSTICE

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African Americans continue to experience bias, discrimination and prejudice at all levels of society. The situation is even more severe for LGBTQ BAMEs (Black, Asian, or other ethnic minorities), who live at the intersection of racism, homophobia and transphobia

 

GENERAL LGBTQ FACTS

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  • About 10 million Americans — or 4.1 percent of the U.S. population — identified as LGBT in 2016. (Gallup)

  • 3.5% of Americans identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, while 0.3% are transgender.

    • Approximately 5%–10% of the general population is lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

  •  70,000 members of the U.S. military were lesbian, gay, or bisexual and 15,500 transgender Americans currently serve in the armed forces

  • There are more than 1 million LGBTQ Blacks in the United States

  • 3.7 percent of all Black people identify as LGBTQ.

  • LGBTQ Blacks are disproportionately young and female,

  • 33% of all African American same-sex couples are raising children.

Health

  • 24% of health care staff have heard colleagues make negative remarks about lesbian, gay or bi people

  • 9% of health care staff is aware of colleagues experiencing discrimination or poor treatment because they are trans

  • 26% of lesbian, gay and bi health care staff have personally experienced bullying from colleagues

  • 48% of trans people under 26 said they had attempted suicide

 Hate crimes

  • 20% of LGBT people have experienced a hate crime or incident in the last 12 months

  • The number of LGB people who have experienced a hate crime has risen by 78 percent since 2013

  • 80% of LGBT people who have experienced a hate crime or incident didn’t report it to the police

  • 10% of LGBT people have experienced anti-LGBT abuse online directed towards them personally in the last month.

At work

  • 19% of LGBTQ employees have experienced verbal bullying from colleagues, customers or service users

  • 26% of LGBTQ  workers are not at all open to colleagues about their sexual orientation

Education

  • 45% of LGBT pupils - (55% of lesbian, 64% of trans pupils) - are bullied for being LGBT

  • 50% of LGBT pupils hear homophobic slurs 'frequently' or 'often' at school. 

  • 20% of trans young people have self-harmed, 60% of  lesbian, gay and bi young people who aren't trans

International

  • 72 countries criminalise same-sex relationships (and in 45 the law is applied to women as well as men)

  • Between 2008 and 2014, there were 1,612 trans people were murdered across 62 countries - equivalent to a killing every two days 

Mental Health

42% of people who are LGBT report living in an unwelcoming environment.

80% of gay and lesbian youth report severe social isolation.

60% LGBT students report feeling unsafe at school

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Other LGBTQ facts

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RACISM IN THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY (2018 Stonewall survey)

  • 51% of LGBTQ+ BAME people (Black, Asian, or other ethnic minorities) have experienced discrimination or poor treatment from others in their local LGBTQ communities, as compared to 32% of LGBTQ community as a whole -

  • 32% of bi people say they can’t be open with family, friends, or within the LGBT community

  • 61% of black LGBT people:have experienced discrimination from other LGBT people,

  • BAME LGBT people face discrimination based on both their sexual orientation and/or gender identity, and their race; this is known as ‘double discrimination’. Racist language and behaviour leaves already marginalised members of the LGBT community feeling shut out and isolated.

  • Trans people, LGBT disabled people, are at significant risk of exclusion from other the general  and LGBT communities.

  • 36% of trans people experienced discrimination within the LGBT community

  • 26% of LGBT disabled people experienced discrimination within the LGBT community

  • 21% of LGBT people of non-Christian faith experienced discrimination within the LGBT community

  • Dating apps openly use phrases like ‘No blacks, no Asians’ and ‘No chocolate, no curry, no rice, no spice’ becoming the modern-day versions of ‘No blacks, no dogs, no Gypsies’.

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SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS

BAME LGBT people are excluded and face significant stereotyping from their white peers.  They face a number of  issues, including:

Economic Insecurity

  • There continues to be persistent discrimination, housing insecurity, a lack of quality, affordable healthcare and fewer educational opportunities.

    • "32% of children raised by Black same-sex couples live in poverty as compared to 13% of children being raised by heterosexual Black parents and 7% being raised by married heterosexual white parents.

    • Black transgender people face severe rates of poverty, with 34% living in extreme poverty compared to just 9% of non-transgender Black people.

Violence & Harassment 

  • Black transgender women face the highest levels of fatal violence within the LGBTQ community and are less likely to turn to police for help for fear of revictimization by law enforcement personnel.

  • 38 percent of Black transgender people who interacted with police reported harassment; 14 percent reported physical assault from police and 6 percent reported sexual assault. Such high rates of revictimization by police is a major barrier to dealing with anti-transgender violence.National Transgender Discrimination Survey,

HIV & Health Inequity 

  • Social oppression  takes a toll on the mental and physical health outcomes among oppressed populations

  • Microaggressions are experienced daily by Lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals who are also racial/ethnic minorities. These microaggressions associated with both racism and heterosexism may be characterized as brief, daily assaults on minority individuals, which can be social or environmental, verbal or nonverbal, as well as intentional or unintentional (Sue et al., 2007).

  • young, Black gay and bisexual men are among the most heavily affected by HIV.

Religious Intolerance 

Criminal Injustice –

  •  The National Transgender Discrimination Survey found disproportionately high rates of arrest and incarceration among Black transgender people when compared to all other racial and ethnic groups.

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 Taken from Stonewall's International Work and ILGA World (2016), LGBT - Hate Crime (2017), The School Report (2017), The RaRE Research Report (2015),  Unhealthy Attitudes (2015), Williams Report

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KEY ACTION STEPS NEEDED

  1. Communities need to be made aware that racism and discrimination exists, through educational programming. 

  2. Organizations need to have explicit policies addressing racism and discrimination with fidelity compliance monitoring.

  3. Greater representation of BAME [black, Asian, and ethnic minority] people in organizations and positions of power needs to occur, so that their views and thoughts are represented in society.

  4. More diversity in decision-making structures and positions of power needs to occur so we listen to and giving platforms to others

  5. Commissioning of anti-racism and discrimination trainings needs to occur

  6. The building of links and partnership work with BAME and disability groups needs to occur.

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