shooting ourselves in the foot

Shooting Ourselves in the Foot

The prevalence of prejudice in theLGBT community

by lesbian, gay, bisexual andtransgender people

Shaun Staunton sstaunton@qahc.org.au

Introduction

• New community campaign called “One Community Celebrating Diversity”

• Campaign topic

Prejudice towards lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people by

other LGBT people in the community

• For approximately 4 months QAHC collected the opinions, views and experiences of the community about this type of prejudice through an online survey

Methodology

• Online “survey monkey” survey• Recruited through dissemination of a survey

link to – QAHC contacts and email lists– service providers and interagencies– Pop-up window on QAHC website– Distribution of postcards at LGBT venues and

events directing people to QAHC surveys– Participation encouraged by the chance to win a

CD voucher for taking part

Demographics

• 131 respondents

• 57.3 % male

• 41.2% female

• 0.8% transitioning from M to F

• 0.8% transitioning from F to M

Identification

• 56.2 % gay

• 30.0 % lesbian

• 10.8 % bisexual

• 2.3 % transgender

• 6.2 % other

• Average age 34.13 Years

Minority groups

• People were asked if they fit into a number of predefined “minority” groups

• 30.7 % identified as non-LGBT scene attached• 29.1 % identified as lesbian• The third highest group was aged 50 or older at 6.3%

• 39.4% stated they didn’t belong to any minority groups

Does prejudice exist?

• 90.5 % of people said that prejudice and discrimination within the LGBT community exists

Who was it directed at?

• Respondents were asked to identified who they saw prejudice directed toward

• 56.1 % saw it directed at those considered to be in the aged group

• 57.1 % saw it directed at the transgender community

• 46.9 % saw it directed at the lesbian community

Where did it occur?

• The top two sites were;

• 67 % identified at an LGBT nightclub• 60.8 % identified in public

• 26.8 % identified other, including school and universities, online, at a workplace and in LGBT media

What form did it take?

• Ridicule by others directed toward a group or person was the most common form, at 68.4 %

• Verbal abuse was next at 44.2 %

• Unintentional exclusion at 44.2 %

Who experiences the most prejudice?

• The most discriminated against group was the transgender community with 60 % of people rating it as number one in terms of discrimination experienced

• The second most discriminated against was the aged population with 41.1 % rating it as second

• The third most discriminated against group was people with a disability, at 54.8 %

Direct discrimination

• Next we asked how many people had experienced discrimination directed at them because they belonged to a minority group

60 % of people had

experienced prejudice or

discrimination directed at them by

other members of the LGBT

community

What happened?

• 44.1 % had experienced this prejudice “sometimes”

• The majority identified that it occurred in an LGBT nightclub

• The majority said that other people around them were “a little supportive”

What did people do?

• 71.9 % ignored the experiences• 56.1 % talked to family or friends

about it

• 79.0 % of people said that they had never considered accessing a service to help them deal with their experiences of prejudice

Response from services

• 46.2% of people accessing a service identified that the services they had accessed were very supportive and helpful

• 23.1% said that they were average in their support

• 15.4% said that they made the person feel worse

How do we prevent prejudice?

• 75 % said that raising the visibility of groups will help reduce prejudice

• 83.9% said increasing knowledge and information about these groups in the community will help reduce prejudice

Which groups are least understood?

• The least understood group was the transgender community

• The second least understood was the Asian community

• The third least understood was the lesbian community

What are some barriers to reducing prejudice?

• Lack of education• Beliefs and values• Fear of difference• Own opinions• Labels• Lack of media

representation and support• Not mixing with diverse

people• Lack of understanding• Focus on only looking after

yourself and having fun

• Preconceived ideas• Lack of acknowledgment

that LGBT’s can be prejudiced

• Reluctance to speak up• Lack of funding to

examine the issue• Self hate • Lack of community

organisation• Assumptions about others• Cliques

How has this impacted on your life?

• Low self esteem• Being less open• Made people angry• Feeling excluded

• The main identified outcome is a feeling of isolation, or even an intentional withdrawal from the LGBT scene

To summarise . .

• Prejudice does exist • It is often occurring in the spaces people go

to for support and inclusion as LGBT people• The aged and transgender groups clearly

came out as groups experiencing discrimination and prejudice

• Lesbians and LGBT people with a disability also experienced significant levels of prejudice

To summarise . .

• Social and family networks were the key points of support

• The primary outcome of discrimination in the LGBT community was social isolation and withdrawal

• Increasing knowledge and visibility were the key strategies in reducing prejudice

Questions?