Study: Black LGBT People More Likely to Live in States Without Anti-Discrimination Job Protection

By Julianne Hing Dec 18, 2014

Black LGBT people in the U.S. are more likely to live in states that don’t prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation, according to a new report (PDF) from the Williams Institute, a think tank at UCLA School of Law. That difference puts some 890,000 black LGBT people at risk of being discriminated against with no legal protection, researchers found.

Those findings come from a new report that examines the disparities in life experiences for LGBT people who live in states that don’t prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of a person’s sexual orientation. The Williams Institute compared Washington, D.C, and the 21 states that have laws on their books prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation with the 29 states–primarily Midwestern, Southern, and Mountain States–that don’t. They found that states that offer employment protections are more likely to have an LGBT-friendly social climate than states that don’t. That line translates to differences in income, health outcomes and access, and food insecurity. 

Unsurprisingly, LGBT people in the U.S. have widely different experiences depending on their race and geographic location. By one estimate, more than one in six LGBT people who live in those 29 states without state anti-discrimination laws is black, even though black people are estimated to be roughly 15 percent of the LGBT population in the U.S. 

Check out the rest of the report at the Williams Institute.