Imagine That…

A think tank found that states without LGBT protection the LGBT communities have a higher rate of poverty that states with protection. What a surprise!

The Center for American Progress said in a press release that,

A landmark report released today paints a stark picture of the added financial burdens that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, or LGBT, Americans face because of anti-LGBT laws at the national, state, and local levels. According to the report, these laws contribute to significantly higher rates of poverty among LGBT Americans and create unfair financial penalties in the form of higher taxes, reduced wages and Social Security income, increased health care costs, and more.
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"Unfair laws deliver a one-two punch. They both drive poverty within the LGBT community and then hit people when they are down," said Ineke Mushovic, Executive Director of MAP. "While families with means might be able to withstand the costs of extra taxation or the unfair denial of Social Security benefits, for a family already struggling, these financial penalties can mean the difference between getting by and getting evicted. Anti-LGBT laws do the most harm to the most vulnerable in the LGBT community, including those who are barely making ends meet, families with children, older adults, and people of color."

The report documents the often-devastating consequences when the law fails LGBT families. For example, children raised by same-sex parents are almost twice as likely to be poor as children raised by married opposite-sex parents. Additionally, 15 percent of transgender workers have incomes of less than $10,000 per year; among the population as a whole, the comparable figure is just 4 percent. To demonstrate the connection between anti-LGBT laws and the finances of LGBT Americans and their families, the report outlines how LGBT people living in states with low levels of equality are more likely to be poor, both compared to their non-LGBT neighbors, and compared to their LGBT counterparts in state with high levels of equality. Discriminatory laws create a devastating cycle of poverty.

So is there any one who is surprised with the findings?

And just because a state does have LGBT protection doesn’t mean it is all rosy. I know many trans-people here in Connecticut who are highly qualified and can’t get a job and I can imagine what it is like in states that don’t have protection.

When you are looking for a job here, the discrimination is covert. They didn’t hire you because you are trans, they didn’t hire you because you are over qualified or under qualified. While in states that do not have protection they just come right out and say it, we don’t rent to people like you.