Cookies in use
Up Front, Winter 2022
Jump to:
90 cents | 2022 Youth Survey | States Step Up for LGBTQ+ Equality | Jeopardy | Time to THRIVE | Blood Donations
90 cents
That’s the amount that an LGBTQ+ worker earns for every dollar that a typical worker earns. And that’s just not right.
The HRC Foundation released this data in The Wage Gap Among LGBTQ+ Workers in the United States report earlier this year, outlining the pay disparities of LGBTQ+ workers with a particular emphasis on the disproportionate wage gap that LGBTQ+ women, LGBTQ+ people of color, and transgender and non-binary people face. To determine the wage gap, the median weekly wage for full-time LGBTQ+ workers was compared with the median weekly wage for all full-time workers in the United States (aka the 'typical worker').
Wage gaps further emerged across race/ethnicity, gender and gender identity, and the intersection of the two.
LGBTQ+ people of color earned less than LGBTQ+ white workers — replicating trends in racial disparities seen in the broader workforce. Specifically, Native American LGBTQ+ and Black LGBTQ+ workers were some of the least highest earning.
LGBTQ+ working women (including both cisgender and transgender women), non-binary, genderqueer, genderfluid, and two-spirit workers, and transgender men and women earned less than LGBTQ+ men, resulting in increasingly wider wage gaps across gender. Specifically, while LGBTQ+ men earn 96 cents for every dollar earned by a typical worker, LGBTQ+ women only earn 87 cents--and transgender women have an even larger wage gap, earning only 60 cents for every $1 earned by at typical worker.
Multiple marginalization across race/ethnicity and gender impacted the wage gap as well. For example,while White LGBTQ+ women earned 96 cents for every $1 earned by a typical worker, Black LGBTQ+ women earned only 85 cents. The wage gap was even larger for Native American and Latinx LGBTQ+ women, who earned, respectively, 75 cents and 72 cents for every $1.
In the report, the HRC Foundation offers a list of ways for policymakers and employers to take action to promote pay equity.
Learn more at hrc.im/wagegap.
2022 Youth Survey
Every child and teenager deserves to live their lives free of discrimination, stigma and harm – including LGBTQ+ youth.
That’s why the HRC Foundation and the University of Connecticut are conducting a study to better understand the experiences of LGBTQ+ youth.
The survey will ask LGBTQ+ youth ages 13 to 18 about their experiences as an LGBTQ+ person at home, in school and across various aspects of their daily lives.
HRC Foundation is committed to addressing disparities and inequities among LGBTQ+ youth. With over 2 million LGBTQ+ youth across high schools in the United States, the data collected will allow greater understanding for addressing the needs of and supporting LGBTQ+ youth.
Take the survey at hrc.im/youthsurvey.
States Step Up for LGBTQ+ Equality
The HRC Foundation’s 2021 State Equality Index, released earlier this year, outlines and analyzes how over a dozen states across the country led an intentional, coordinated attack on the transgender community, particularly children, for no reason other than to harm and erase them. But we have seen a record-breaking number of states step-up for LGBTQ+ equality and fight to pass laws that champion inclusivity and equity in the face of sweeping discrimination.
The SEI is a comprehensive report that groups states into several broad categories regarding the type of advocacy that occurs there and details statewide laws and policies that affect LGBTQ+ people and their families.
This year, a record breaking 21 states and Washington, D.C., were recognized in the SEI for prioritizing innovative measures to advance LGBTQ+ equality, with Iowa, New Hampshire and Virginia joining those in the top category for the first time.
Learn more at hrc.org/sei.
“The best part for me has been being on TV as my true self.”
We were glued to our TVs for Amy Schneider’s historic 40-win run on “Jeopardy!” in late 2021 and early 2022, when Schneider became the winningest woman in the history of the show, and the second-most successful competitor ever. She brought trans visibility into the living rooms of people all across the country who may have never met a trans person before. She changed countless hearts and minds, and changed the conversation about the power, brilliance and grace of our transgender community.
“I didn’t want to make too much about being trans, at least in the context of the show,” she tweeted. “I am a trans woman, and I’m proud of that fact, but I’m a lot of other things, too!”
We are incredibly proud of who Amy Schneider is and what she has accomplished. And we can’t wait to cheer her on again in the Tournament of Champions!
Time to THRIVE
LGBTQ+ young people in America still face dramatically heightened rates of rejection and discrimination in school, at home and within their community. LGBTQ+ youth who are multiply marginalized face additional barriers that make navigating their lives as LGBTQ young people even more difficult. It is imperative that we create spaces in which all LGBTQ+ youth are affirmed, supported, and have an equitable opportunity to THRIVE.
Creating those spaces is a big focus of the HRC Foundation’s Time to THRIVE Conference: Promoting Safety, Inclusion and Well-Being for LGBTQ+ Youth Everywhere!
At Time to THRIVE, we aim to engage a broad audience of youth-serving professionals on building cultural humility around LGBTQ+ identities using a strong intersectional approach. Time to THRIVE offers the opportunity for youth-serving professionals to lean into conversations on the relationship of multiple aspects of identities. Workshops and panels look at the intersections of LGBTQ+ identities with other barriers, such as racism, ableism, classism, sexism, and transphobia, to understand the ways they impact LGBTQ+ youth in a wide range of settings.
Andrea Jenkins, president of the Minneapolis City Council, was the keynote speaker at the 2022 conference, and ALOK, a writer and performance artist, facilitated a conversation with he HRC Foundation’s cohort of Youth Ambassadors.
Time to THRIVE is co-presented by the National Education Association and the American Counseling Association, with T-Mobile as the presenting sponsor.
Learn more at timetothrive.org.
“The current policy is outdated, does not reflect the state of the science, and continues to unfairly stigmatize one segment of society."
In the wake of news that the American Red Cross had declared the first “national blood crisis” due to critically low blood supplies, the Human Rights Campaign once again called for federal authorities to remove unnecessary restrictions on blood donation by men who have sex with men.
“We are facing a national blood shortage. This is a crisis that can in part be addressed by modernizing the Food and Drug Administration’s discriminatory policy that bans men who have sex with men from donating blood,” Madison said.
HRC has strongly encouraged the FDA to revise the history questionnaire used to screen potential donors to one based on an individual risk assessment of sexual behaviors upon which all donors are evaluated equally, without regard to sexual orientation or gender identity.
The FDA has a study underway to evaluate alternatives to the current identity-based, discriminatory policy to one that is based on individual risk. Gay and bisexual men between the ages of 18 and 39 are needed for the study, which is being conducted in eight cities across the country. To learn more, go to www.ADVANCEstudy.org.
