Advances for LGBTQ+ people in recent years have been monumental: marriage rights and federal anti-discrimination employment protections to name two of the most recent and significant. With these protections in place is it time to mark equal rights for LGBTQ+ people off as complete? Is the mission accomplished?

At Keen Independent, our work is based in evidence. We have been asked by a number of clients to examine whether there is evidence of discrimination against LGBTQ+ people in the workplace, as business owners and even in licensing of certain professions. What does the evidence tell us about progress for LGBTQ+ people?

LGBTQ+ Rights Are New

Government-sanctioned discrimination against LGBTQ+ people in the United States has a much longer history than government prohibitions against LGBTQ+ discrimination. It has been:

• Less than 25 years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned laws criminalizing homosexuality;
• Only 12 years since the Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Windsor resulted in federal recognition of same-sex marriages performed in states where they were recognized;
• Just ten years since the Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges legalized same-sex marriage nationwide; and
• Only five years since LGBTQ+ people gained federal protection against discrimination in employment.
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New Rights Are Tenuous

Rights are only rights if you can keep them … they must outlast legislative and court challenges. Violations of rights must be challenged and protections enforced for those protections to be meaningful. Because such processes take time, LGBTQ+ people continue to be vulnerable. Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have indicated interest in reconsidering Obergefell. According to the State Court Report more than 30 states have “zombie laws” that will immediately reactivate restriction on same-sex marriage if the Supreme Court were to overturn Obergefell and NBC News reports that lawmakers in nine states introduced measures to restrict same-sex marriage in 2025.

In the United States, confidence in legal rights for LGBTQ+ people is so tenuous that attorneys and groups such as the National Center for LGBTQ Rights routinely advise LGBTQ+ people to take steps such as adopting their own children, a costly and intrusive process that remains largely hidden from view. Legal experts warn that that being listed as a parent on a birth certificate is insufficient protection for LGBTQ+ families when new civil rights measures have not yet stood the test of time.
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Anti-LGBTQ+ Backlash is Real, Dangerous for Many and Deadly for Some

Anti-LGBTQ+ legislative actions, hate crimes and especially anti-transgender violence have shown dramatic increases in recent years. Analysis of recent National Crime Victimization Survey data by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law found that, “LGBT people are nine times more likely to experience violent hate crimes than non-LGBT people.”
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Discrimination and Fear of Discrimination Are Still Prevelant

Evidence points to high rates of discrimination against LGBTQ+ people in the United States in everything from housing to health care to employment. When asked by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, more than one-third of LGBTQ+ adults reported experiencing discrimination. Approximately 80 percent reported taking actions such as avoiding certain employers, public safety officers or medical practitioners or hiding their relationships to avoid discrimination. Pew Research Center found that more than two-thirds of gay, lesbian and transgender adults have been subject to slurs and more than half have feared for their safety at some point.

Meanwhile in our global society, civil rights advances in the United States afford no protection if one’s work or family requires travel to any of the 64 countries where homosexuality is still illegal, punishable in some countries by life in prison or execution.
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Historical Discrimination Leaves a Lasting Legacy

Groups that have been systematically marginalized for centuries start out behind— in income, in education and in opportunity. Keen Independent’s review of the literature shows that discrimination, which begins with high rates of harassment in schools, predisposes LGBTQ+ people to lasting socio-economic disadvantages, lower education attainment, lower employment levels, higher poverty rates and lower home ownership rates than for heterosexual people.
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LGBTQ+ Identity Can Compound Other Discriminatory Impacts

At a basic level, it is easy to understand that someone who has a disability, is a person of color and identifies as LGBTQ+ may experience barriers related to all three aspects of their identity. Data collected by the National Opinion Research Center and the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) document that being both LGBTQ+ and a person of color or a person with a disability means disproportionate vulnerability to discrimination and hate crimes. One NCAVP study found that 91 percent of LGBTQ+ homicide victims were Black and 64 precent were Black transgender women.
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Invisibility in Data Can Leave Barriers for LGBTQ+ People Undocumented and Unaddressed

For example, self-employment can be an important career path for populations who experience workplace discrimination or feel a lack of belonging on the job, but national evidence that Keen Independent draws on in our work shows substantial challenges for LGBTQ+ business owners. Their businesses tend to be newer, smaller, in poorer financial health and frequently less supported by government programs than non-LGBTQ+ owned businesses.

Yet, when states, cities and other local governments conduct disparity studies, which are foundational for developing legal, effective small business programs that counteract patterns of discrimination, they often do not include business conditions for LGBTQ+ business owners in their scope of work. Keen Independent has been able to add analysis of LGBTQ+ business owners to several disparities studies we conducted, but lack of federal and other data about LGBTQ+-business ownership are a barrier to comprehensive analysis.

Lack of data can create a self-perpetuating cycle in which absence of data is both the reason for excluding LGBTQ+ people from programs and studies and a direct result of their exclusion.
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Now What?

Examining national data provides a strong indication that the playing field for LGBTQ+ people overall is likely not level in many facets of life. However, national indicators are not the complete story. At Keen Independent, we understand that context matters, every situation is different and we do not prejudge the outcome of any research assignment. Seeking to understand whether and how discrimination and other barriers might impact LGBTQ+ people in your organization or programs is the next step toward practical, actionable strategies.

Whether our clients are developing a program to assist historically disadvantaged small business owners, addressing workplace climate and belonging, or designing inclusive cultural attractions and programs, we can assist by ensuring programs that are legally defensible, effective and inclusive of LGBTQ+ populations along with other historically marginalized groups.  

We like to imagine a time when we can say, “Yes, we are there. The work of securing LGBTQ+ rights is complete.” Until then, Keen Independent is here to help.