A Perceived Reality

1 in 4 LGBT Do Not Experience Discrimination

Chad Felix Greene

The Center for American Progress recently released a survey on LGBT discrimination in 2016. LGBT and liberal media outlets have begun running with the headline: ‘1 in 4 LGBT reported discrimination in 2016.’ To set the tone, Vox quoted the following story in an article entitled: “Discrimination is doing its dirty work”: a new survey looks at the effects of anti-LGBTQ hate:

When David’s employers didn’t invite him to work outings because he’s gay, he didn’t take it up to higher-ups. Instead, he changed himself.

“I couldn’t be fired for being gay,” David, who works at a Fortune 500 company with a formal nondiscrimination policy for LGBTQ people, said. But, he added, “When partners at the firm invite straight men to squash or drinks, they don’t invite the women or gay men. I’m being passed over for opportunities that could lead to being promoted.”

So David took matters into his own hands: “I’m trying to minimize the bias against me by changing my presentation in the corporate world," he said. "I lower my voice in meetings to make it sound less feminine and avoid wearing anything but a black suit. … When you’re perceived as feminine — whether you’re a woman or a gay man — you get excluded from relationships that improve your career."

David was included in the survey which covered about 900 LGBT individuals. Another subject cited by the authors of the survey is named Maria: “Maria S.,* a queer woman who lives in North Carolina, described a long commute from her home in Durham to a different town where she works. She makes the drive every day so that she can live in a city that’s friendly to LGBT people. She loves her job, but she’s not out to her boss. ‘I wonder whether I would be let go if the higher-ups knew about my sexuality,’ she says.” The survey states that David and Maria represent a common experience for LGBT Americans.
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The survey asks about the personal perception of individuals in relation to discrimination. It cites statistics such as:

• 68.5 percent reported that discrimination at least somewhat negatively affected their psychological well-being.
• 52.8 percent reported that discrimination negatively impacted their work environment.
• 25.7 percent reported avoiding public places such as stores and restaurants, versus 9.9 percent of cisgender LGB respondents
• 11.9 percent avoided getting services they or their family needed, versus 4.4 percent of cisgender LGB respondents
• 26.7 percent made specific decisions about where to shop, versus 6.6 percent of cisgender LGB respondents

The 1 in 4 statistic isn’t detailed, but the survey claims: “Between 11 percent and 28 percent of LGB workers report losing a promotion simply because of their sexual orientation, and 27 percent of transgender workers report being fired, not hired, or denied a promotion in the past year.” This links to a 2015 survey titled We The People which argues: “When applying for jobs, LGBT Americans face high rates of rejection compared with equally qualified non-LGBT candidates. A study conducted in Texas found an 11 percent drop in callbacks when applicants applying at a booth in an urban Texas mall wore a ‘Gay and Proud’ hat versus a ‘Texas and Proud’ hat.”

Transgender respondents also reported:

• 23.5 percent of transgender respondents avoided doctors’ offices in the past year, versus 4.4 percent of cisgender LGB respondents.

The primary concern here is the assumption of discrimination without evidence or definition. The secondary concern is choosing to vaguely categorize discrimination outside of established anti-discrimination policies or laws. The Human Rights Committee states that in 2015, 89% of Fortune 500 companies had nondiscrimination policies in place for LGBT. David works for a company where he “can’t be fired for being gay.” The evolution of this mindset seems to include recognition of the willful actions of the vast majority of businesses in America to protect LGBT, while insisting on an emotional assurance that discrimination is a priority or a norm.

In the case of David, he does not indicate his sexuality is an issue to anyone outside of his own imagination of what higher-ups must be thinking. He wraps his self-imposed insecurities in another blanket of emotional assurance stating that gay men and women have the same experience. He assumes being gay is the reason he isn’t invited to these social outings. He also assumes he is being denied promotion based on his apparent exclusion from these outings. He believes being feminine is causing the discrimination and so he attempts to be more masculine to compensate. However, if being a masculine gay man were to allow him entrance, then it would seem being gay isn’t the actual issue. It occurs to the reader that perhaps his peers do not even know he is gay in the first place.

Maria too bases her choice in work on what she imagines the alternative might be like. She drives an hour to an ‘LGBT-friendly’ city but is still afraid to come out to her boss for fear he might fire her. It doesn’t seem to occur to her that perhaps her boss simply wouldn’t care. The rest of the survey ranging from whether or not LGBT engage in social activity (49% say no if they were discriminated in the last year) to whether or not to change their style of dress or manner of speaking (36% and 39% if they have experienced discrimination in the last year, respectively) seem to come from pure speculation of other people’s motives.

Exclusively subjective surveys can shine light onto the emotional dynamics of a particular group, but they do not demonstrate an objective reality or substantiate a claim. As the Center for American Progress cited under their methodology section: “Separate from the quantitative survey, the authors solicited stories exploring the impact of discrimination on LGBT people’s lives. Using social media platforms, the study authors requested volunteers to anonymously recount personal experiences of changing their behavior or making other adjustments to their daily lives to prevent experiencing discrimination. Interviews were conducted by one of the study authors and names were changed to protect the identity of the interviewee.” In fact, one could report 100% of LGBT across the nation experience discrimination in the workplace and all it tells us is that 100% of LGBT ‘reported’ discrimination. It does not validate the claim of discrimination itself.

In this case, we have far more information to cast doubt than to indicate a viable pattern or trend. The survey unselfconsciously undermines its own authority by quoting personal experiences that any rational person would easily question. It did not claim actual discrimination in any tangible form but attempts to validate a new form of evidence in personal recollection of feelings. In fact, the entire survey is designed to invoke an emotional reaction in its audience to the suffering of LGBT in a remarkable variety of everyday experiences. It wants the reader to imagine how terrible life in general must be for LGBT due to discrimination as a concept.

​The table below titled, Fear of discrimination shapes the lives of LGBT people, illustrates this goal by claiming LGBT people are afraid to shop, go to the doctor, talk about their lives or even engage in social media. The authors seem to believe most people do not interact with LGBT on a regular basis in order to make this believable. It is simply absurd to imagine why anyone LGBT would possibly be insecure about any of the activities listed. Even if they had experienced discrimination, it is unreasonable to believe or expect them to retreat in fear into the shadows. Liberals do not react to discrimination, perceived or otherwise, passively as victims. The smallest note on a lesbian waitress’s receipt becomes nationwide news for weeks.

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​To come away from this survey with the notion it proves, or even implies, 1 in 4 LGBT experience discrimination is outright parody. Truth be told, the only thing one could conclude from the data provided is that nearly half of the LGBT world is deeply, significantly mentally ill and suffers from paranoia, anxiety, depression, and hallucination. Perhaps the constant demands from the LGBT media that they are being hunted, hated, discriminated against and targeted by the White House is contributing to this.

In the end, it takes a rational mind to construct a rational worldview. It doesn’t take a nationwide study to prove LGBT face so little discrimination the vast majority will never experience it in their entire lives. Gays who live day to day in the open without cause for concern should be evidence of this. How is it that being gay can be utterly meaningless in one life and a daily burden in another? The answer: it is the individual who makes the reality.

​We know discrimination is not the issue the Left portrays it to be because we live in the world they report on. If subjective personal experience equates to unquestioned truth then it should be mentioned that I came out in 1998 and I have never once experienced discrimination in the workplace for being gay. Remove the layers of paranoia and imagination and one would find this is true for most LGBT people across the country as well. More importantly, as the survey is being used to justify passage of The Equality Act, it should be strongly noted that the survey itself disproves effectiveness of anti-discrimination law or policy if the report is to be believed.

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For more from Chad, visit chadfelixgreene.com and follow him on Twitter @chadfelixg.