The Movement Advancement Project, a five year old independent think-tank focused on full equality for LGBT people, released a new report Aug. 3 that could well serve as the basis for a rejuvenated effort to pass an inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act or similar federal job-related legislation at a time when Congress promises to turn its attention to creating jobs and curtailing unemployment.
The 32-page, easy-to-read, graphics-heavy report is a snapshot of the progress made from 2001 to July 2011, specifically measuring “changes in the social and political climate, progress on key policy issues, improvements in the lived experiences of LGBT Americans, and the strength and capacity of LGBT movement organizations.” The overview and analysis culled from existing information can be incredibly useful in underscoring that the inequality in treatment of LGBT individuals, couples and families leads directly to inexcusable – and correctable – economic and health disparities.
For instance, perhaps advocates could use it to help Wisconsin Rep. Tammy Baldwin press for her federal employee benefits bill, the Domestic Partners Benefits and Obligations Act. Or California Sen. Barbara Boxer push her Equal Access to COBRA Act to cover LGBTs as part of a new Jobs Bill. And perhaps advocates could site the information in letters to help California Rep. Linda Sanchez push her bill to have the Social Security Administration extend benefits to same sex couples as part of any “compromise” on “reforming” Social Security, which LGBT people pay into during their years of employment.
And someone needs to point out that job discrimination against LGBT people also leads to problems getting and maintaining credit – and both long term unemployment and negative credit ratings are considered in job interviews. Now for a right-wing/Tea Party House that balks at extending unemployment benefits in the first place, this might be a bit of a stretch. But the argument must be made and publicized anyway.
The report is not exhaustive, however. It notes, for instance, that HIV/AIDS “is still a significant and growing problem in the U.S.” with the increase in new HIV diagnoses in men who have sex with men jumping from 59% in 2000 to 75% in 2009. (The CDC is releasing new data on infection rates Wednesday). And the report notes that federal funding for HIV/AIDS work domestically “remained relatively constant since 2005.” But it does not flag the critical issue of the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) – which has waiting lists in some states and is constantly threatened with budget cuts.
One observation that may get overlooked but should be more pronounced is the incredible disparity between the progress that’s been made and how that’s been accomplished.
MAP’s analysis shows an LGBT movement universe of 553 organizations with combined revenue of $563 million. While this revenue is impressive, it pales in comparison to the resources of anti-LGBT organizations. The 10 largest anti-LGBT organizations have combined revenue of $337 million, almost four times the total revenue of the 10 largest LGBT advocacy organizations ($94.3 million).
Adding to the challenge for LGBT organizations, MAP’s analysis indicates that their revenue have declined in recent years. Looking at the 39 largest LGBT social justice advocacy organizations in the U.S. (which collectively represented 69% of the budgets of all LGBT social justice advocacy organizations), MAP found that these organizations’ revenue decreased by 20% from 2008 to 2009. Likely reasons for the decline include the economic downturn and decreased giving in an off-election year. ….
Individual donors are the largest source of funding for the biggest LGBT advocacy organizations, accounting for 42% of their overall revenue. However, MAP’s analysis found that fewer than 3.4 % of LGBT adults have donated to one of those advocacy groups.
Some of those individual funders funded the MAP report and seem to fund almost everything LGBT-related, though, as the report notes, the federal government under President Obama and more out elected officials have helped, too.
It’s interesting that MAP starts their report noting that “public support for LGBT Americans is increasing steadily…[I]n 2011 56% of Americans said they ‘believe gay or lesbian relations are morally acceptable,’ an increase of 16 percentage points from 2001. That LGBTs are judged on “morality” is, in itself, worthy of more discussion.
But MAP lets readers draw their own conclusions about the “morality” of having over 95% of LGBT Americans relying on the kindness, generosity and ethical activism of fewer than 3.4% LGBT adults to fund this progress. MAP didn’t specify which anti-LGBT organizations have so much money – and the LGBT movement can’t match the Catholic, Mormon and network of evangelical churches. But perhaps the movement can take a page from their funding playbook and ask LGBTs to “tithe” a small percentage of their income to fund an LGBT organization that helps LGBT people and people with HIV/AIDS.
“There has been a tremendous amount of important progress over the last few years,” Ineke Mushovic, executive director of MAP, said in a press release. “But the kind of momentum we’re seeing can be a double-edged sword. While it has provided vital protections for gay and transgender people and their families, it can also bring with it a risk of complacency, and potentially the false belief that LGBT people are actually equal.”
The good news to which Mushovic refers is the celebration of marriage equality in New York, with six national polls since August 2010 showing majority support for that trend and more states approving some form of legal recognition for same sex relationships, LGBT families and safe schools. More good news with the official congressional repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell slated for September (though the military may no longer be a good employment opportunity with its expected cut-backs), as well as a slew of positive directives from the Obama administration.
But, as MAP points out (with footnotes backing up every assertion), despite polls “showing broad support for employment protections, a 2010 national poll found that a majority of Americans (62%) were unaware that, in most states, LGBT people could be fired because of their sexual orientation and 89% of Americans incorrectly believed that a federal law exists prohibiting such discrimination.”
That’s why the “lived experience” portion of the MAP report is so critical to make the connection between how and where LGBTs live their lives and the unnecessary and abject cruelty of inequality in relationship and job protections, especially among people of color and transgenders.
“The advances since 2009 give us good reason to be optimistic,” Mushovic said. “But we must be careful to not allow this accelerating progress to obscure the experiences of millions of gay and transgender Americans who still live in daily fear of being unfairly fired from their jobs, enduring harassment or physical violence, facing a medical crisis without their partner standing by, or losing custody of a child, just because of who they are.”
The data, just for a start: same sex couples have no legal protections in 30 states and in 29 states, employees can be fired just because they’re gay—and transgender employees can be unfairly fired in 35 states.
Additionally, MAP reports:
“Despite stereotypes to the contrary, LGBT Americans are often more likely to be low-income or to live in poverty than heterosexual Americans. Data from the National Survey of Family Growth shows that 24% of lesbians live in poverty, compared to 19% of heterosexual women; and 15% of gay men live in poverty, compared to 13% of heterosexual men. Transgender Americans are four times more likely than the general population ot have a household income of less than $10,000 per year, and 27% of transgender Americans live in poverty.
The median household income for the average same-sex couple with children is 23% less than that of a different-sex married couples with children.
Studies consistently find that LGBT people of color face substantial economic challenges. For example, Census data show that Black African American and Latino same-sex couples – male and female alike – have substantially lower household incomes than either white or Asian/Pacific Islander same sex couples. In the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, Black and Native American transgender respondents reported more than twice the rate of unemployment compared to white transgender respondents. Similarly, transgender people of color as a whole reported nearly four times the national average rate of unemployment.
Let’s put that into the larger economic context. Tyrus W. Cobb, a former special assistant to President Ronald Reagan, posted this July 19 on his National Security Forum website:
There is a rapidly growing income disparity in the United States that threatens the fabric of our society. The gap between those with the highest incomes and everyone else is widening, and it is reaching levels not seen since the Great Depression. In 2008, the last year for which data is available, the top 0.1% of earners took in more than 10% of the personal income in the United States! The top 1% took in more than 20%. Further, executive compensation at the nation’s largest firms has roughly quadrupled in real terms since the 1970’s (Peter Whoriskey, “With executive pay, the rich pull away from the rest of America”, Washington Post, June 18, 2011).
The LA Times declared that millionaires are making a comeback; Crooks and Liars called the economic disparity a “class war.”
Look at the maps the Williams Institute’s Gary Gates put together on where same sex couples live, based on the 2010 Census, to gauge how LGBTs might be impacted:
Now look where same sex African American couples live:
And Latino/as:
Surely, the new MAP report will help elected and other public officials see the connection between LGBT relationships, institutionalized discrimination, and our part in the economic survival of the nation. But LGBTs must also step up and regularly advocate for ourselves with as much depth and commitment as we excoriate the anti-LGBT forces out to render us invisible. I believe this new MAP report can help intentional and accidental LGBT activists better advocate for their deserved right to full equality in their own backyard.
Download the report here and use it to back up your advocacy for LGBT equality.
Recent Comments