With a lack of anti-LGBT discrimination laws, the LGBT community faces continued discrimination in schools, the workforce, and everyday life. This discrimination has become an everyday part of life for many individuals. Some individuals can avoid this discrimination by hiding who they are many aren’t so lucky. This discrimination is often time so extreme as to negatively affect the mental health of the individual.

The LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, or Transgender) community faces discrimination in the school system, most commonly in the form of bullying. This bullying most commonly falls under either verbal or physical bullying. Occasionally however the bullying reaches the level of cyber bullying and is no longer contained to the school. Bullying is of course present in most schools, and often time made light of by society as just another part of growing up. Bullying is not a part of growing up, it is a cancer that negatively impacts a student’s mental health, this impact being so severe as still impacting the individual into adulthood. This paper is by no way claiming that LGBT students are the only ones that suffer from bullying. That is not the case, however, this paper will focus only on bullying the LGBT community faces. Psychologist Michael Friedman Ph.D. writes in his paper “The Psychological Impact of LGBT Discrimination” that, “Bullying of LGBT children is common in schools, as well. Eighty-five percent are verbally bullied during the course of a school year. This harassment often turns violent: 40 percent report physical bullying and 19 percent report being physically assaulted at school because of sexual orientation.” (Friedman) Bullying within schools does have a deterrent in the form of Title IX, which states, “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." (NCAA.Org) This protection does not include sexual orientation under its definition, and until it does the LGBT students will continue to be bullied simply for being themselves. However, in most case brought before courts the judges have ruled that any bullying based on not conforming to gender stereotypes, falls under the protection of Title IX. (Kimmel) Some more commonly believed gender stereotypes are; girls don’t play sports, boys don’t play with dolls, boys don’t take home economics, there are of course many more. These stereotypes may have stood back in the 20s but they don’t anymore. Almost every major sport has a girls’ team now. Playing with dolls teaches good parenting skills at a young age, if your son wants to play with a doll let him. Everyone needs to take Home Economics not just girls it teaches many life skills that everyone needs to know to be a self-sufficient adult. Bullying of students is often not even because of actual sexual orientation, but perceived sexual orientation. Until students have better antidiscrimination laws in place the bullying will continue, not just for LGBT students but students perceived to be LGBT. Bullying on the bases of sexual orientation, leads to increased depression in the victim and a six-fold increased risk of suicide attempts. (Friedman) A research article in the Journal of School Health, titled “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Adolescent School Victimization:  Implications for Young Adult Health and Adjustment,” made the following discovery after conducting a survey in 2010, “Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender-related school victimization is strongly linked to young adult mental health and risk for STDs and HIV; there is no strong association with substance use or abuse. Elevated levels of depression and suicidal ideation among males can be explained by their high rates of LGBT school victimization.” (Russell) This survey was conducted using young adults between the ages of 21 and 25, the age in which most enter the workforce in search of a career and not just a job. The effect of bullying in schools can last well into an individual’s joining of the workforce.

Discrimination in the workforce is nothing new it has been around for years; the type of discrimination has simply changed. The discrimination the LGBT community faces today is reminiscent of the discrimination woman once received. The only difference being is that woman living in any state can sue their employer if necessary to end that discrimination. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 or Title VII as it is more commonly known as, is a labor law that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. (EEOC.Org) In November of 2013 the senate attempted to pass the Employment NonDiscrimination Act. The ENDA was written to amend title VII of the Civil Rights Act, to include sexual orientation and gender identity. (Thompson 285) Thus, making LGBT discrimination in the workforce illegal. To further combat the ever-changing types of discrimination that runs rampant in society here in the US. In his June 2012 paper “A State-by-State Examination of Nondiscrimination Laws and Policies”, Jerome Hunt examines two of the main arguments that the ENDA faced, the “draught” argument and the “flood” argument. The “draught” argument claimed that there would not be enough cases brought forward involving sexual orientation and gender identity. While the “flood” argument claimed there would be so many cases that it overwhelmed the agency charged with enforcing the ENDA. Hunt then goes on to provide evidence proving that neither argument can hold up against. (Hunt 15) Unfortunately, for the LGBT community in September 0f 2014 the ENDA was voted out of consideration by the House of Represenatives. The reason behind this is still unclear, what is clear is the lack of LGBT protection in the workplace from discrimination. With the voting, out of the ENDA it was left up to each individual state to set Anti-discrimination laws and policies. Only 15 states have set anti-discrimination laws in place to protect against sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination. In 19 states there is no protection at all, with it being perfectly legal to fire someone based on their sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation and their gender identity. Those 19 states are: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming. One fact that remains unclear is how sexual orientation and gender identity impact your work performance or have a bearing on the type of job you can hold. There is not a single job that a straight individual can do that an LGBT individual can’t. Is it really that big of a deal that your heart surgeon be a straight nonmember of the LGBT community, are you really going to stop and ask before your life saving surgery. The LGBT community has an estimated 7 million private sector employees, 1 million state and local employees, and 200,000 federal government employees. (Muñoz and Kalteux 43) With an estimated 4 percent of the workforce belonging to the LGBT community it is about time they are offered some anti-discrimination protections regardless of where they live. This estimate is based on extrapolating data based on those who responded with belonging to the LGBT community. How many individuals choose not to respond in fear of being fired for being who they are? Many LGBT community members live in constant fear of being fired, never feeling safe in their employment leading to LGBT individuals constantly changing jobs. If the discrimination they face in the workplace isn’t bad enough LGBT individuals also face discrimination in everyday tasks and businesses. 

While the LGBT community may be on its way to equal rights, it still has a long way to go. The rights of the LGBT community are battered at everyday by discrimination. Twenty-Nine states offer no protection to the LGBT community in regards to discrimination in basic accommodations. (Clifton) In those states a business can deny entry and service to an individual strictly based on their sexuality or gender identity. When trying to give blood LGBT individuals face the following obstacles per the donor guidelines, male donors are eligible to give blood if they have not had sex with another man in more than 12 months. (Redcross.Org) Regardless of type of sex or if safe sex was practiced. Any sexually active male in the LGBT community can only give blood if they are abstinent. Every blood donation is screened, yet per the Redcross website “While testing has greatly improved, it is not 100 percent effective at detecting infectious diseases in donors with very early infection. The FDA selected the 12-month deferral to provide adequate time for the detection of infected individuals.” This 12-month deferral though only applies to men who have sex with men. There is no restriction placed on a woman who is promiscuous. Shouldn’t they be more worried about the woman who slept with 8 guys in a week not always practicing safe sex, then the guy who has been in a committed relationship with another man for six months always practicing safe sex? This is just one of many ways that the LGBT community are discriminated against in society. LGBT parents in same sex relationships and even marriages must fight for parental rights. Many LGBT couples are still denied the ability to adopt, simply based on the old stigma that only a mother and father can raise a child. In many states sex education classes refuse to acknowledge sex with the same gender, this done to push the belief that same-sex relations are not normal or healthy. While the LGBT community may have recently been granted equal rights to marriage, that right can still be denied all in the name of so called religious freedom. This religious freedom legalizes discrimination, based on it being against one’s religion, yet it is only LGBT individuals that suffer from these laws. Twenty-one states currently have some form of religious freedom laws in effect. Even being on the doorway of death doesn’t protect the LGBT community from being discriminated against and being denied basic human compassion. Hospitals can deny an LGBT partner visitation rights, all based on outdated beliefs and policies. God created Eve for Adam, his perfect partner that doesn’t mean every mas perfect partner is woman. How would you feel knowing your loved one is dying and not being able to be by their side? Discrimination is an ever-present part of the LGBT community, one that needs to no longer exist.