Protestors and supporters gather in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 8, 2019 in Washington as the justices hear three challenges from New York, Michigan and Georgia involving workers who claim they were fired because they were gay or transgender. Photo: Jack Gruber via Imagn Content Services, LLC
LGBTQ+ people are more likely to experience discrimination at work in spite of laws against it, according to reporting from The 19th.
A study released by the Williams Institute last year shows that 17% of LGBTQ+ adults received harassment and discrimination on the job within the past year of reporting. 47% have experienced it at some point in their lives.
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“You would hope things have gotten better,” said Brad Sears, the founding executive director of the Williams Institute and a co-author of the report
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Many report having to stay in the closet at work out of fear of reprisal for their identities. Almost half of LGBTQ+ adults were not out to any of their coworkers, and this had protective effects in keeping them free from discrimination. Those who were out at work experienced three times the amount of discrimination.
“A lot of people, even if they are out, they’re kind of downplaying their identities in the workplace,” Sears said. “Maybe they use a different voice or different mannerisms at work, or they don’t dress exactly how they would otherwise dress when they’re not at work, or they use a bathroom that they would prefer not to be using at work.”
Nonbinary people, in particular, received disproportionate discrimination for their identities, with coworkers harassing them for not neatly fitting into either a masculine or feminine box. Many were passed over for promotions, were called slurs, and were isolated in their workplace.
The data suggests that three in five nonbinary people have been discriminated against at work, which also includes things like being fired or passed over for a job. One in five report facing physical harassment, being “assaulted,” “attacked,” or “strangled.” One in four are currently experiencing such discrimination at their jobs and are often victims of multiple sources of discrimination.
“Oftentimes, I was passed up for a promotion because I wasn’t ‘manly’ enough, and they doubted my ability to lead a team,” a Latine nonbinary person said in the survey.
A Latine nonbinary participant from Colorado said in the survey: “A co-worker strangled me at a counter and said he was trying to ‘give a girl a massage.’”
And a Black nonbinary person from Connecticut said that they heard their manager talking “disparagingly” about them behind their back.
The Williams Institute cites a lack of clear company policies that protect nonbinary individuals as a cause for much of this discrimination. Many company policies across the nation fail to explicitly outline nonbinary individuals as being included as a protected class, instead saying protections apply only to men and women. Some opponents of trans rights cite their interpretation of Title VII in justification, claiming that it does not extend to protections based on gender identity and only extends to sex.
Much of this discrimination is due to a lack of company policies that explicitly protect nonbinary individuals, with loopholes being present to allow for such discrimination, including in some legal interpretations.
Sears concluded, “LGBTQ+ people are not monolithic. They’re different, they have intersecting identities … and those are leading to differences that are important in the workplace.”
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