A new survey lends insights into the state of Alabama’s LGBT community. Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
A recent study by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Project One America revealed that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Alabamians face debilitating prejudicial challenges and stunted progress in personal rights.
“Jefferson County is a relatively tolerant area of Birmingham, but a lot of citizens live in a bubble, by which I mean there are a lot of citizens who have no idea how bad other areas of Alabama are,” said Josh Bruce, a member of the LGBT community and the education director for Birmingham AIDS Outreach program. Bruce met at Vulcan with members of the HRC to discuss the survey and the results.
There are roughly 9 million LGBT individuals who live in the United States, and according to the LGBT by State Survey issued by Gallup, 2.8 percent of Alabamians identify as LGBT, although exact numbers are hard to determine. “There are several people who reside in Alabama [Birmingham included] who are still in the closet because there’s still so much of a stigma surrounding sexual orientation in the South,” says Meghan Hall, a Birmingham member of the LGBT community.
One of the issues the survey addressed is how LGBT employees are treated at work. According to the survey, 24 percent said that they have experienced employee discrimination and 38 percent have experienced harassment by their coworkers. “I don’t feel secure when I know I could be terminated from my job for whatever gender I prefer,” says Hall. “It’s one of the contributing factors to people staying in the closet.”
Michael Hansen, former board member of Equality Alabama and a participant in the survey, says about working in Alabama, “It’s hard to prove if you’ve been overlooked for a job based on your sexual orientation, but it does happen. I don’t feel that I’ve had that experience, but that’s because I’ve chosen to work with organizations that are very tolerant of the LGBT community. Unfortunately some people aren’t as lucky.”
The workplace isn’t the only place that LGBT citizens are often harassed. The survey revealed that 21 percent of survey participants said that they had been harassed in their respective religious institutions and half of the participants said they had been harassed at school.
“It’s despicable, really,” Hall says. “Churches are supposed to be places of fellowship and community. And harassing the LGBT members sullies that feeling of unity.” The survey stated that 46 percent of participants have experienced harassment in their high schools. The HRC noted that education is a key factor in diminishing prejudice under the belief that knowledge leads to understanding.
Participants in the study also spoke out about healthcare rights and spreading the word about HIV protection. “Alabama actually has the lowest rate of HIV in the Southeast,” says Bruce. “But we still need to keep people informed about what they can do to prevent the spread. People need to always use protection, and HIV testing and treatment need to become regular occurrences in everyday healthcare.”
The survey says that only 78 percent of the participants have health insurance and only 30 percent have access to their partner’s rights. When asked if not having health insurance could hurt an individual diagnosed with HIV’s chances of seeking medical treatment, Bruce shook his head. “Absolutely not. Alabama has several organizations willing to help with HIV patients. Alabama Drug Assistance Program will help people without insurance get the medicine they need to help fight the disease.”
Bruce adds that if an individual with HIV is undergoing medical treatment, the chances of passing the disease along are greatly reduced, close to 100 percent. “If testing and treatment were things that everyone was given when they visit a physician, we could probably lower the rate of HIV even more,” Bruce says.
Even though Birmingham has several LGBT advocacy groups, Hansen believes that some groups are only focused on certain issues. “A lot of groups are worried more about mainstream issues that only affect the middle to upper class.” He referred particularly to the rights of transgendered individuals. “People tend to ignore transgender rights because they don’t pull in as much fundraising money as, say, gay marriage does,” Hansen explains.
Foster Noone, a transgender individual who identifies as a “non-binary transperson” and has lived in Alabama for the past six years, has been working as an activist in the community to raise awareness on transgender rights. “People don’t realize how much things change when you come out as trans,” Noone says. “The truth is everything changes.”
Noone thinks Alabama has several changes it needs to make when dealing with transgendered individuals. “There’s discrimination everywhere: at work, in the bathrooms, with gender expression and gender education in schools. No one thinks about us as a separate group from lesbians and gay men.”
Hansen adds that public safety is a big issue for transgender people. “I think the statistic is a black transgender woman has a one in 12 chance of being attacked. That’s uncalled for and it is a serious issue that needs to be addressed.”
Birmingham, LGBT advocates say, is already taking steps towards diminishing intolerance in the community but still has a good ways to go toward total equality. “Getting people to talk and think about the issues is the first step,” Hall says.
Noone loves “living in Alabama. I have amazing friends here and I feel I’ve really made a difference with my activist work. Yes, we still have a long way to go, but we’re making progress.”
Hansen and several of his friends and colleagues are starting their own advocacy group dedicated to pushing equal rights for LGBT citizens. “The whole Civil Rights Movement in the ’60s was about equality in housing and working and I think Birmingham, having been the center of the Civil Rights Movement, should step forward and take charge in the LGBT rights,” says Hansen.
Bruce offers, “I feel intolerance is declining. We just need to keep up the good work.”
Project One America Deputy Director Karin Quimby issued this statement along with the survey results: “Although LGBT Alabamians face challenges living in the communities they love, they remain committed to creating an environment that is safe and nurturing. HRC Alabama will work across the state to advance enduring legal protections.”
