I am using my research to understand more about why there are people who are discriminated against for something they cannot control and is no one else’s business. I would like to also understand what effects being discriminated for something like that has on people. While this is the case for most qualities that people are discriminated against for, in this case I am researching people who are a part of the LGBTQ+ community.
The reason I am interested in researching discrimination in the LGBTQ+ community is because a lot of information has come to light regarding it over the last few years. I do not think that it is fair for people to be discriminated against based off of something that only differs to what people are “used to” at home. I also think that the fact that people care so much about qualities and aspects about other people that have absolutely nothing to do them is interesting but also do not understand it.
I am an ally of the LGBTQ+ movement and know a few people who are a part of the community. It is being reported all over the news and social media and I would like to expand my knowledge on it. I have a disability that people are discriminated against for, while I have experienced a little bit about what it is like to have issues with people because of that disability, I would like to expand my knowledge on discrimination against other topics.
Professional fields matter most to my inquiry because there are more people who are aware that they are a part of this community and who may not necessarily rub it in everyone’s faces but who are also not hiding it in the professional world rather than in the academic world. I plan to continue to look for personal journals with experiences and news articles or posts on social media that discuss what people have had to deal with and what the effects and consequences, if any, there were.
Hi Zoe,
Learning more about the LGBTQIA+ community is something that we should all be doing. This reminds me of a post EY (a big 4 firm) made a while back that I saw on LinkedIn. EY understands that differences should be celebrated, but they did it in the wrong manner. To me, it felt like a type of discrimination where they were trying to support the LGBTQ+ community, but in the wrong manner, instead only using them for their own benefit. I will link an article that I found on the incident just incase you want to read it.
https://www.goingconcern.com/ey-learns-that-lgbt-people-just-want-to-collect-a-paycheck-like-everyone-else/
Like you said, they didn’t really understand what was wrong about their campaign in the beginning. Firms understand that people are different, but may not understand what type of impact they have on the communities. EY is obviously a fantastic company that does a great job at including people with disabilities or others who may be discriminated at other places, but this campaign was wrong. EY did recognize their error and apologized for it later on, but this is a great example of how we are all learning and growing together to learn more about the LGBTQ community.
I look forward to reading more about your research and expanding my knowledge as well concerning the LGBTQ+ community and how to avoid discrimination in general.
Julia,
That sounds like an amazing article and something that would be useful and would definitely contribute to my research, thank you so much for sharing it! I will make sure to look into it even more and see how I can incorporate this story into evidence to support my ideas.
Zoe,
Your plan sounds very interesting. As I was doing my research, I came across something that may not directly apply to your plan but is somewhat in the middle of my research and yours. It’s entitled ““Parent Advocacy” as an Ideological Code: LGBTQ Parents Engage with Disability Services. The article discusses parents’ relative privilege or marginality central to what their children receive as far as services. As someone who received services in pre-K through grade 12 I was aware that my parent’s role was integral in many ways to the services I received. Was that fair? Probably not? Was it the truth? Yes.
It never occurred to me that someone’s sexual preference could affect in any way what disability services their child received.
I’ll give an example from the article:
When parents felt they were not visibly queer in all interactions and they reported that they sometimes received better services. For example, one bisexual woman had both a male ex-partner and a female co-parent reported noticeably different responses to her family depending on how they were viewed: “I can see how egregiously the world oversteps the rights of minorities, and I can see that partly because when I live in one world, I don’t get hit by it, but when I live in another, suddenly, there it is.”
It’s an interesting read even if it doesn’t directly apply to your research paper.
I look forward to reading it.
Reference:
Gibson, M. F. (2019). “parent advocacy” as an ideological code: LGBTQ parents engage with disability services. Journal of Progressive Human Services, 30(1), 46-68. https://doi.org/10.1080/10428232.2018.1543996
Link: https://tinyurl.com/yg4w9an4
Edward,
Thank you so much for sharing this article, I never thought that sexuality could affect disabilities services either. I think it sounds like a very interesting article and will absolutely see if it can help support my argument!
That’s a really fascinating perspective, Ed–thanks for sharing. It points toward the complexity of real people’s real experiences, and the intersectionality of discrimination (someone who faces marginalization on behalf of their identity, i.e. their race, sexuality, immigration status, social class, etc.)
Parents from marginalized groups (and perhaps especially those who are multiply marginalized) have less social capital–less power in social/societal situations–and that can make it very difficult for them to advocate on behalf of their children. Consider, too, how LGBTQ+ kids who do not have supportive parents may not even have *someone* to advocate on their behalf in a situation where they require accommodations or support.
The question of how discrimination affects people in this marginalized community is an especially interesting one–it gets at the human impacts of these systemic patterns.