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Equality Forward

This study is part of Equality Forward, an initiative by the Human Rights Campaign to unite lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and straight allies of all races and backgrounds to win equality for all.

More than two years ago, we began this project with one desire: To better understand what’s important to LGBT people of color, a group of people that has not traditionally been asked. We envisioned a listening project and put aside our assumptions of what we thought we knew or didn’t know. Share your story. After you share your story, read others’ stories or read the transcript of the national conversation about about race, sexuality and gender.

This report comes at a critical time when our future depends on our ability to understand our differences and similarities. In this area, we have so much work to do — both within ourselves, as well as in our communities. But if we dare and care to learn, we can begin to speak of “we” and eliminate the false dichotomy of “us” and “them.” Because in truth, “we” are all that we have.

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The Report

Click on the link below to go to the full interactive virtual report online, or click on the flipping publication image to open the full virtual report in a new window.
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Click here to read the full virtual Equality Forward report.

Key Findings

Diversity is a reality, but inclusion is the real challenge

LGBT people of color tell a complex story about being simultaneously present and excluded in the communities where we live; feeling both treated like everyone else and condemned. Diversity is a reality, but inclusion — valuing and leveraging differences — is the real challenge to build genuine partnerships with LGBT people of color. We want to foster a greater sense of connection and shared opportunity to work on the issues that affect us all. In organizations working to end racial discrimination as well in LGBT groups, the participation of LGBT people of color should be invited early and at every level of decision- making.

We all have more in common than we realize

Too often, human rights advocates stress our differences, but the clearest finding from the research is that we have more in common than we realize. We seek the same freedoms and opportunities and share concerns about affordable healthcare, jobs and the economy. LGBT movement organizations have to stand up for more than just LGBT concerns and recognize that issues such as access to healthcare and the economy affect LGBT people of color just as much (and in some cases more) as everyone. In joining others to achieve these common goals, LGBT groups can build effective partnerships.

Religious attitudes are a major source of prejudice

Religious attitudes are a major source of sexual prejudice. For LGBT people of color, many of whom are regular churchgoers, the conflict is acute. More than half of LGBT people of color interviewed feel treated like sinners by their ethnic and racial communities, and faith communities are among the places LGBT people of color feel least accepted. The need to reach out to faith and religious leaders is underscored by the rise of HIV/AIDS in black and Latino/a communities even as anti-LGBT sermons continue to be delivered in houses of worship. Human rights advocates should have dialogues with faith leaders who condemn LGBT people and find common purposes to gather around. LGBT people of color should be welcomed into inclusive and affirming communities of faith.

Race still matters

LGBT people of color view the world first from the point of view of race and gender. Most feel there is as much racism and sexism among LGBT people as there is among as non- LGBT people, and racially motivated violence and discrimination are more prevalent than violence or prejudice based on sexual orientation. Race matters, and partnerships among groups of LGBT people must respect that. Human rights groups have to ask for and listen to the concerns of LGBT people of color in large forums and in one-on-one conversations. LGBT groups should recognize that for some, the desire to achieve racial equality is more important than the desire for marriage equality. We should support efforts to combat racial profiling, ensure fair immigration laws, fight HIV/AIDS, stop discrimination in housing and end disparities in healthcare.

More information and media images of LGBT people of color are needed

LGBT people of color are serious media consumers, but they do not find enough information or see accurate media representations of themselves. They watch LGBT television programming, read print and online publications, websites and blogs looking for LGBT information. Human rights organizations should provide more news and information about LGBT people of color as well as advocate for better media representation. We should embrace communications that allow for full reader and viewer participation, such as online social networks and blogs.

Protections from violence and job discrimination are bridge-building issues

Nearly all LGBT people of color say protections from violence and workplace discrimination are important; issues strong majorities of all Americans support in opinion polls. Violence and discrimination are also the most salient issues that connect three critical groups — non-LGBT people, communities of color and white LGBT communities. Human rights advocates should look for every opportunity to use these crosscutting issues to build open partnerships that not only foster confidence and trust among each other, but also lay the groundwork for winning coalitions.
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About the research

This study began in January 2007 to identify the priorities and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of color. Millions of LGBT people from all walks of life live in the United States, but remarkably, they are largely regarded as a homogenous group with similar concerns and backgrounds. LGBT people share much with each other and all Americans, but are also as diverse as any other group.

Previous research has told us that HIV/AIDS , hate crime violence, marriage and domestic partnerships are among the top priorities of African-American and Asian Pacific Islander LGBT people. Census data finds that Latino/a same-sex couples are raising children at three times the rate of their Caucasian counterparts. Tens of thousands of same-sex couples of color in the United States report lower median household incomes than white same-sex partners.

But how can we use this information to build a truly inclusive human rights movement? How can we gather around shared goals? How can we stop allowing our differences to hold us back and instead leverage them to take a giant step forward in our journey to equality for all?

This report begins to answer these kinds of questions. It is the hope that the findings and recommendations here are meaningful and relevant to human rights organizations, donors, scholars, elected officials and activists alike.

In “At the Intersection: Race, Sexuality and Gender,” Lake Research Partners conducted six in-person and three online focus groups of lesbian, gay and bisexual people of color from July to August 2007. A total of 79 people participated in the groups, which were assembled by race, ethnicity and gender.

In-person groups:

  • African-American men – Chicago
  • African-American women – New York City
  • Asian Pacific Islander men – New York City
  • Asian Pacific Islander women – Los Angeles
  • Latinos – Los Angeles
  • Latinas – Chicago

Online groups:

  • African-American men – South
  • African-American women – South
  • Latinos – Southwest

Participants in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City were recruited through local LGBT organizations, via flyers left in bars, cafés and shops frequented by LGBT patrons, and by using focus group facility databases. Online focus groups were conducted with YouGov/Polimetrix in the South and Southwest regions of the country. These groups, where online participants used microphones to talk around a virtual conference table, allowed us to hear from people outside major urban centers. They came from cities such as Tucson, Ariz., and Morrisville, N.C.

Group discussion informed the creation of a national online scientific survey of 727 LGBT people of color conducted by Lake Research with Knowledge Networks Inc. from June 24 to July 2, 2008. Knowledge Networks hosts the only probability-based online panel recruited through random-digit-dial telephone sampling of the full U.S. population. In addition, Knowledge Networks provides computers and Internet access to households without them. A total of 169 survey participants came from the Knowledge Networks panel; another 558 people were recruited through Survey Sampling International, which assembles its online panel via online advertising as well as from purchased membership and subscriber lists from companies and whose clientele indicate an interest in specific issues – in this case, LGBT issues. Those respondents were reached with a more traditional online research methodology, including opt-in respondents and respondents targeted based on other predictive measures such as magazine purchases.

The Knowledge Networks panel provided targets for age, gender, race and other demographics for the Survey Sampling International panel. The survey reached 228 African-Americans, 80 Asian Pacific Islanders, 261 Latinos/as, 90 people of mixed race and 68 belonging to another ethnic group. Differences between the Knowledge Networks and Survey Sampling International samples were minor. The Knowledge Networks sample was more female, included fewer bisexual or “other” sexual orientations, was slightly older, more educated, and included fewer parents. Conversely, Survey Sampling International sample included more men, more Latino/as, more bisexual people, was younger, and included more parents. Both samples shared a similar income makeup.

While this research offers insight into issues of race and sexual orientation faced by many LGBT people, a national study dedicated to the lives of transgender people of color is needed to begin to examine prejudice at the crossroads of race, sexuality, gender identity and gender expression. Absent from this research are discussion groups of transgender people of color, and while 3 percent of the survey’s participants identified as transgender, the number is too few to do a methodical analysis of their individual concerns and experiences.
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A message for President Obama

As part of the Equality Forward initiative, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation fielded a shorter version of our scientific survey in the fall and winter of 2007 with partners in 100 local and national organizations in more than 25 cities. One question we asked was:

We’re electing a new president in 2008. If you could tell him or her one thing about what it’s like to be you, what would you say?

More than 5,000 LGBT people of color told us their answer. Here are some of their responses:

We are normal humans, living normal lives. We are ALL created equal.
Mixed-race gay man
26 years old
Orlando, Fla.

As a Christian, multi-racial lesbian with diabetes in America, it’s a daily struggle!
45 years old
Cleveland Heights, Ohio

It’s a struggle every day to be recognized as a second parent of a daughter who I’ve raised since she was three years old and who had to watch her two mommies get married in Canada instead of our home state of Pennsylvania.
African-American
27 years old
Philadelphia, Penn.

Um … black, female, bisexual, lower middle class. Add that up.
20 years old
San Diego, Calif.

I don’t want to feel like a second-class citizen anymore. I want equality, and my sexuality is a part of me; it does not define me.
Latina lesbian
22 years old
Trenton, Mich.

Although I pray for the day that I can sponsor my foreign-born domestic partner to come to the U.S., being me is no different from being him. Every day is new opportunity to be an excellent citizen of this country.
Latino gay man
28 years old
Dallas, Texas

I’m gay, and I love and am loved. I want to be able to marry to acknowledge this to society.
Latina bisexual woman
20 years old
Dana Point, Calif.

As a Latino gay man, I still live in a world where I seem to be asked to pick one community over another. It’s time for America to realize that there is not one type of ‘experience.’ Everyone has their own history, culture and traditions.
39 years old
Portland, Ore.

Struggling every day, I live with the battle/journey of being a lesbian Christian woman eager to be accepted in my community and family.
27 years old
Houston, Texas

I’ve survived the racism and sexism in the military only to be subjected to the poor standard of services at the Veterans Administration and its medical services.
African-American gay man
49 years old
St. Louis, Mo.

Every day is a dialogue of whether it is safe or not to come out as lesbian because of fear of discrimination, losing my job and not being treated equally. It hurts to know that because of who I love I cannot have the same rights and safety ensured.
Asian Pacific Island lesbian
23 years old
Davie, Fla

I’m a 19-year-old bisexual Latino, and I deserve to be protected under the law and to have equal rights as any other American.
Los Angeles, Calif.

GLBT people are not second-class citizens and deserve equal rights.
Asian Pacific Island transgender woman
27 years old
Jamaica Plain, Mass.

Give me the SAME rights, NOT similar, but the SAME legal rights that every straight American has in our country.
Asian Pacific Island gay man
28 years old
Seattle, Wash.

Native American people struggle with identity and cultural retention, and two-spirit people meet that challenge even more so. The right to have equality should be guaranteed and expected rather than to be an endless road filled with roadblocks.
Native American gay man
38 years old
San Francisco, Calif.

I am a law-abiding citizen of the United States of America, and deserve the same rights and protections as any of my straight neighbors.
Asian Pacific Island lesbian
24 years old
San Francisco, Calif.

Gays are people too.
Latina bisexual woman
21 years old
Terre Haute, Ind.

My sexuality should not determine how I move about the world. However, despite the fact that I am mature and intelligent enough to know this, I live in a country that does not allow me to move on from the struggle over this small, insignificant fact.
Latina bisexual woman
21 years old
New Orleans, La.

I pay taxes. I should have the same rights are everyone else.
Latino gay man
37 years old
Salt Lake City, Utah

I am HIV-positive and ready for a cure.
African-American gay man
42 years old
Brooklyn, N.Y.

Picture a bisexual, Irish, Mexican woman with a brain and attitude.
47 years old
Phoenix, Ariz

Many do not have the luxury to choose one issue over another, as we are affected by many interlocking and interdependent forms of oppression.
African-American gay man
32 years old
Knoxville, Tenn.

It’s difficult to be open about who I am without worrying about getting fired.
Mixed-race lesbian
21 years old
Fairfax, Va.

It’s rough being a double minority.
Asian Pacific Island gay man
28 years old
Alexandria, Va.

Nothing is worse than having to live a lie just to keep yourself safe from people that would hurt you because of who you are.
African-American bisexual woman
18 years old
Nashville, Tenn

If you were one of the few heterosexuals in a homosexual world, wouldn’t you ask for your equality rights?
Asian Pacific Island gay man
37 years old
Lakewood, Ohio

Imagine living in a house with your family. When dinner is served, they only call you down after they have eaten everything, and you are forced to eat the scraps. This is my life as a black, gay American man.
32 years old
Smyrna, Ga.

As a member of the human race and a creation of God, I stand as tall as any other member of society.
African-American gay man
63 years old
Decatur, Ga.

I live, love and pay taxes, and my civil rights and liberties are as important as anyone’s.
American Indian heterosexual transgender woman
65 years old
Jamestown, Ohio

You have no idea how it is to be a minority among minorities.
American-Indian bisexual transgender woman
Camdenton, Mo.

It’s rough living in a heterocentric world.
Latino gay man
60 years old
Culver City, Calif.

How would you like it if you knew that you always had to hide a part of you because you knew that in one way or another someone was going to use it against you?
Latina lesbian
23 years old
New Haven, CT

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