Introduction
The existence of Lesbians, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community has been a commonplace issue for continuous national and international debate. This paper seeks to give an objective insight into the LGBT community with specific regard to the USA. The paper seeks to explain the kind of lives lived in the community and their interaction with the other members of the society as well as the legal system of the country. The paper will also highlight the kind of issues/ordeals the community members go through either due to their actions or the responses of the other citizens towards them. While each individual in the society has the freedom to associate themselves with any sexual orientation that they please, different people in the society have different perceptions about the presence of the LGBT community in their societies.
The LGBT community in America has historically been a victim of unfair laws, lack of legal protections, institutional discrimination, and social stigma that has more than often served as a barrier to the pursuit of their goals. They have thus been involuntary victims of unmet stigma and discrimination. (Movement Advancement Project (MAP), 2014)3.4% of the US adult population (approximately 8.5 million citizens) is identified as LGBT (Gallup, 2012). Despite the huge number of population associated with the LGBT community and their possession of higher education levels, they are reported to have higher poverty levels than the rest of the community. The LGBT community is also associated with lower lining standards and their sense of well- being is rated at a score of 58 which is lower than the higher score of 62 for the sense of well-being for the other members of the society who are non-LGBT. (Gary J, 2014)
The LGBT community members are often denied fairness and inclusion at their workplaces despite the existence of federal laws that are believed to promote and protect equal job access and worker protection against unfair practices. The American workforce is estimated to accommodate at least 5.4 million LGBT workers who are continuously subjected to injustice, unfairness, discrimination and harassment at work. The discrimination against the LGBT community in terms of employment is also evidenced by the rates of unemployment which are higher than those for the non LGBT society members. For instance the unemployed proportion of the Lesbian, Gay and bisexual stood at 13% in 2012 against 10% rate for the non LGBT community. The situation was worse for the transgender part of the community who’s their unemployment rate is double the entire population rate of unemployment. A further 27% of the LGB individuals in the workforce have confirmed continuous discrimination on the basis of their sexual inclinations while 50% of the workers with a transgender sexual inclination were victims of harassment at work.
Despite the ordinary provisions in the federal laws that protect all individuals against any discriminatory or unfair treatment, there exist no specific laws meant for the protection of the rights of the LGBT workers. The majority of the states also lacks a legal framework or provisions for the protection of worker discrimination on grounds of sexual inclination. However, the largest employer in the US, the federal government, does not allow worker discrimination founded on differences in sexual inclinations. The unfair treatment and discrimination against the LGBT community at the workplace denies them the right to an opportunity to comfortably earn a living and provide for themselves and their families. The non- LGBT community overlooks the fact that these LGBT workers have responsibilities to meet and families to keep.
The broken bargain in the figure below indicates a summary of the harsh ordeal that the LGBT community members face in the US. They find it difficult to find and keep a job opportunity, and once they find an opportunity, they are compelled to work extra hard in a bid to retain such a job. They receive fewer benefits in return and pay more taxes.
An addition to the discrimination a workplace is the limited access to workplace benefits such as health insurance. Once the LGBT workers are not allowed to enter into legal marriage contracts, as the case is in many states, they are unable to create legal parenting rights and thus they cannot benefit from such workplace benefits. Access to health insurance is also not as popular among the LGBT community as it is among the rest of the society. The LGBT community, for instance, has a 17.6% proportion that lacks access to health insurance compared to a 13.2% of the non LGBT society with the same deprivation. Even the LGBT workers who have access to health insurance encounter a major challenge in situations and areas where the same gender marriages are not recognized because such couples cannot cover each other either on individual or corporate health covers. Transgender workers are often victims of rejected medical cover applications and whenever they are accepted, they are usually charged exorbitantly high premiums and numerous limitations and exclusions on the medical cover.
The fact that many states do not acknowledge the presence of LGBT communities amongst their population, such individuals are usually faced with a great challenge of obtaining identification documents within such states. A good example is the case of an amended gender for a member of the LGBT. Various states will deny such an individual any legal registration documents on the basis of their sexual orientation. Such a denial is a sufficient proof of the intention of these states to oppress, discriminate and suffocate the LGBT community to eternal extinction. (Movement Advancement Project (MAP), 2014)
The LGBT community is to a larger extent faced with the challenge of accessing sufficiently competent healthcare facilities. Such health care providers have occasionally been found to be unwelcoming on the part of LGBT patient clients. A big proportion of the LGBT community has occasionally been faced with resentment and discrimination at various health facilities. 56% - 70% of the LGBT patients, in a recent research by Lambda legal, faced a lot of discrimination at the healthcare facilities. The discrimination, denial of health insurance, stigma and the perpetual stress with which the LGBT community is faced, they generally result in poor health conditions. This subjects them to the risks of chronic illnesses, mental disorders and general poor health. The fear instilled in them by the kind of stigma they get from the society has been noted as a contributing reason for many adult LGBT society members to seek medical advice. These delays in seeking medical care usually and more than often confines the LGBT community to a cycle of vicious chronic illnesses and mental stress those culminate to poor mental and physical health. The poor health conditions translate to reduced activity and productivity at their workplaces which are already discriminatory. Once the LGBT workers become less productive at work, the discrimination and resentment for them becomes acute and they end up unemployed. (They may choose to leave the employment involuntarily due to their poor health and stress or they are rendered unproductive and thus laid off)
The societal prejudice against people who belong to the LGBT community is also displayed at schools where the LGBT groups are often victims of face harassment and physical violence. Their counterparts at school view them as people with low self esteem and immoral. These discriminations at school exist despite the legal provisions for equal access to education opportunities in all such public institutions. (Pew research center, 2013)
Despite the historical and regional discrimination against the LGBT community in the US over the past years, a recent research has shown that the general attitudes of the American population towards the LGBT community adults have gradually changed to better levels. This implies that the adult LGBT members of the society have developed a greater feeling of being accepted and a greater sense of belonging to the larger American community. The acceptance is however still too low and stands at 19%, while the discrimination stands at 53%. According to the research by the Pew center, 19% of the LGBT community acknowledge a lot of social acceptance, 59% say they face average acceptance while 21% of them say that they receive little acceptance in the general society. The level of social acceptance is however too minimal compared to the rejectionist bigger part of the society. (Pew research center, 2013)
References
Movement Advancement Project (MAP),. (2014). Understanding Isuues facing LGBT Americans. Washington DC. Retrieved from http://www.lgbtmap.org/ understanding-lgbt-issues
Gallup, I. (2012). Special Report: 3.4% of U.S. Adults Identify as LGBT. Gallup.com. Retrieved 7 May 2016, from http://www.gallup.com/poll/158066/special-report-adults-identify-lgbt.aspx
Gary J. Gates, “LGBT Americans Report Lower Well-Being,” Gallup Well-Being, August 25, 2014, accessed May 7, 2016, http://www.gallup.com/poll/175418/lgbt-americans-report-lower.aspx.
Pew research center,. (2013). A Survey of LGBT Americans Attitudes, Experiences and Values in Changing Times. Washington DC. Retrieved from http://www.pewsocialtrends.org
Movement Advancement Project | LGBT Workers. (2016). Lgbtmap.org. Retrieved 7 May 2016, from http://www.lgbtmap.org/lgbt-workers
