Black LGBTQ employees face high levels of discrimination and harassment in the workplace, according to a new report by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. Approximately half (51%) of Black LGBTQ workers have faced discrimination or harassment at work because they are LGBTQ at some point in their lives. This includes being fired, not hired, not promoted, or experiencing verbal, physical, or sexual harassment due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Despite federal nondiscrimination protections, 15% of Black LGBTQ employees reported being fired, not hired, or denied promotions due to their sexual orientation or gender identity, and 14% experienced at least one form of workplace harassment in the past year.
Many Black LGBTQ employees reported engaging in actions to avoid discrimination and harassment, including hiding their LGBTQ identity and changing their appearance or behaviors. Over one-third (38%) of Black LGBTQ employees were not out to their current supervisors, and nearly one in five (19%) were not out to any of their coworkers.
Researchers analyzed survey data collected in the summer of 2023 to examine the workplace experiences of Black LGBTQ adults compared with White, Latinx, and Asian LGBTQ employees. Results show that Black LGBTQ employees were more likely to have experienced discrimination and harassment at work than white LGBTQ employees.
“Like the general population of Black adults in the U.S., Black LGBTQ adults are more likely to live in the Southeast, a region with some of the least protective laws and social support for LGBTQ people,” said lead author Brad Sears, Distinguished Senior Scholar of Law and Policy at the Williams Institute. “Furthermore, Black LGBTQ workers face discrimination stemming from multiple marginalized identities, including their race and LGBTQ status, highlighting the need for policies that address intersecting and overlapping forms of discrimination.”
Additional Findings
Demographics
- Approximately 59% of Black LGBTQ adults in the workforce are under the age of 35, and 81% are under the age of 45.
- Sixty percent of Black LGBTQ adults identified as bisexual, and 38% identified as lesbian or gay.
- Almost seven in 10 Black LGBTQ adults in the workforce did not have a Bachelor’s degree (69%), and six in 10 (59%) were making less than $50,000 a year, with one in four (25%) making less than $25,000 a year.
Discrimination and Harassment
- Black LGBTQ employees were more likely to experience discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity during their lifetimes than white LGBTQ employees (41% v. 27%).
- 40% of Black LGBTQ employees have experienced harassment because of their sexual orientation or gender identity at some point in their lives, compared to 33% of white LGBTQ employees.
Avoiding Discrimination
- Nearly six in 10 Black LGBTQ employees (58%) engaged in covering behaviors at their current job in order to avoid discrimination or harassment related to their sexual orientation or gender identity.
- About one-third (32%) of Black LGBTQ employees have avoided work-related social events and sharing about their families and activities outside of work.
Retention
- 35% of Black LGBTQ employees reported that they had left a job at some point in their lives because of how their employer treated them based on their LGBTQ status, compared to 30% of white LGBTQ employees.
- Due to the workplace environment for LGBTQ people, 18% of Black LGBTQ employees considered leaving their current jobs, and of those, two-thirds (67%) had taken steps towards finding another job.