discrimination, according to a separate survey of 1,000 LGBT Americans by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner for HRC. Sixty-three percent of the respondents reported experiencing discrimination in their personal lives. And 47 percent of that number reported experiencing discrimination in the workplace while 19 percent reported discrimination in housing. And 8 percent reported discrimination while in the education system. Of these LGBT Americans, 74 percent believed a federal non-discrimination bill should be the “top priority” or “top two or three” priorities for the country’s LGBT community. Only marriage scored higher. “Mobilizing all of HRC’s forces to pass a federal bill is crucial,” stressed HRC President Chad Griffin, noting such protections already exist on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, disability and sex. “It’s time that the LGBT community is fully protected as well,” Griffin says. “This is a battle we must win.”
63+37+H 63%
of LGBT Americans reported experiencing discrimination in their personal lives.
47% 19% 8% 47 percent of that number reported experiencing discrimination in the workplace.
16
EQUALITY
19 percent reported experiencing discrimination in housing.
LATE SPRING / EARLY SUMMER 2015
8 percent reported experiencing discrimination while in the education system.
Photo: Thinkstock
Federal Bill con’t from p. 15
BOOTS ON THE GROUND IN TEXAS The Human Rights Campaign and some key partners in the Lone Star State teamed up this year to fend off more than 20 anti-LGBT bills at the state level. Tens of thousands of HRC members in Texas sent more than 53,000 e-mails and made 5,000 phone calls to state lawmakers in Austin, and worked closely with Equality Texas, Texas Freedom Network and the ACLU of Texas to keep the pressure on. If passed, the bills could have unleashed extensive damage by undermining local non-discrimination protections, unfairly targeting transgender people, hindering the progress of marriage equality and allowing individuals and corporations to discriminate against LGBT people. One bill would have criminalized HIV. Passage of the anti-LGBT bills also would have hurt the state economy, said HRC and its business partners. The Texas Association of Business cautioned that potential investors could relocate to a more accepting state. Over the last few years, HRC has worked closely with municipal, business and other community leaders and advocates to pass protections in Houston and San Antonio. HRC has had dedicated volunteer communities in Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio for decades. When Texas state lawmakers reconvene again, HRC and its partners will be ready, says Marty Rouse, HRC’s national field director. “Our message to anti-LGBT legislators is this: ‘Don’t Mess with Texas.’”