Anchorage’s LGBT Discrimination Survey

by Melissa S. Green

Originally published as an op-ed in the Anchorage Press on Thursday, January 27, 2011.

In the 1980s, I was part of two major research efforts conducted by Identity, Inc. to document sexual orientation bias in Alaska. One in 10: A Profile of Alaska’s Lesbian & Gay Community, published in 1986, reported on the results of a statewide survey of 734 lesbian, gay, and bisexual Alaskans. Identity Reports: Sexual Orientation Bias in Alaska, published in 1989, included three papers, including “Closed Doors,” a survey of Anchorage employers and landlords; and “Prima Facie,” which documented 84 actual cases of of violence, harassment, and discrimination due to sexual orientation bias. (Copies of both reports are available on the Internet at http://www.henkimaa.com/identity/.) Some of our findings:

Of the 734 respondents to One in 10:

• 61% reported being victimized by violence and harassment while in Alaska because of their sexual orientation (ranging from verbal abuse/harassment, reported by 58%, to physical violence, 11%, and sexual assault, 5%);
• 39% reported discrimination in employment, housing, and loans/credit; and
• 33% reported discrimination from services and institutions.

From the “Closed Doors” component of Identity Reports:

• 31% of the 191 Anchorage employers in the survey said they would not hire or promote or would fire someone they had reason to believe was homosexual.
• 20% of the 178 Anchorage landlords in the survey said they would not rent to or would evict someone they had reason to believe was homosexual.

From the “Prima Facie” component of Identity Reports:

• 84 case histories of antigay bias, discrimination, harassment, or violence (including three murders) were documented involving 30 men and 21 women. 64 of these cases took place in Anchorage.
• A former intake investigator with the Alaska Human Rights Commission found that 32 of 42 discrimination cases based on personal testimony would "definitely" be jurisdictional under state human rights law if it included protection from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. (That is, the commission would investigate them if complaints were made.)
• Victims were predominately gay men or lesbians, but also included heterosexuals who were erroneously assumed to be gay or lesbian.

On June 16, 2009, I testified about these findings before the Anchorage Assembly during public hearings on Anchorage Ordinance 64, which would have added sexual orientation and gender identity to the Municipality of Anchorage’s equal rights code. I also provided every member of the Anchorage Assembly with CDs containing the full reports, as well as photocopies of the “Prima Facie” report.

In spite of this evidence, one of the chief arguments used in 2009 by opponents of equal rights was that there was no evidence of discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) people. Mayor Dan Sullivan echoed those arguments when, less than a week after the Anchorage Assembly passed AO-64 by a vote of 7 to 4, he vetoed the measure, claiming that “there is clearly a lack of quantifiable evidence necessitating this ordinance.” And so for the third time in 35 years, the Anchorage Assembly in 2009 passed an ordinance that provided at least some equal rights under the law for LGBT residents, only for those rights to be almost immediately stripped away again. (The other instances were in 1975–76 and 1992–93.)

But of course, the evidence of One in Ten and Identity Reports was two decades old, so Mayor Sullivan and ordinance opponents found it easy to ignore. But they found it just as easy to close their ears to the public testimony of a number of Anchorage LGBT residents who stepped forward during the summer of 2009 to testify to very recent experiences of discrimination and bias — even after one opponent openly testified to the Assembly that he’d once beaten a gay man so badly that he put him in the hospital. Public testimony about discrimination, no matter how recent, was downplayed as "just anecdotal.”

And so we come to 2011 and the Anchorage LGBT Discrimination Survey, now in progress: the first effort since the late 1980s to compile rigorous data about the incidence of sexual orientation bias and discrimination in Anchorage — and the first effort ever to document Anchorage or Alaska-specific data about discrimination and bias on the basis of gender identity.

The Anchorage LGBT Discrimination Survey is a collaborative project of the Alaska LGBT community and a coalition of Alaska organizations which serve the LGBT community, including Identity, Inc., the Alaskan AIDS Assistance Association (4-As), Alaskans Together for Equality, Equality Works, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Alaska. Our survey questionnaire and overall research project were designed with the expert assistance of Dr. Brad Myrstol and Khristy Parker of the Justice Center at University of Alaska Anchorage. In the future, we plan to conduct a second and far more expansive statewide survey, which will survey LGBT Alaskans statewide not only about their experience of discrimination and bias, but also a full range of other questions of concerns to LGBT Alaskans and their friends and allies.

In the meantime, online surveys are at our project website, http://alaskacommunity.org/, and on the ACLU of Alaska website at http://www.akclu.org/ by clicking the button marked “LGBT Survey.” To obtain a PIN number to access the online survey, or to receive a printed version of the survey, contact Shelby Carpenter of the ACLU of Alaska at (907) 263-2006 or at scarpenter@akclu.org. Survey data collection will continue until February 28, 2011.

We invite the participation of all members of the LGBT community in this important and confidential survey, and we welcome the assistance of our non-LGBT friends and allies in getting the word out.

Melissa S. (Mel) Green was principal writer of One in Ten: A Profile of Alaska’s Lesbian & Gay Community (1986) and coauthor with Jay K. Brause of Identity Reports: Sexual Orientation Bias in Alaska (1989). She is a founding member of the Alaska LGBT Community Survey Task Force. (She also has a blog at Henkimaa.com.)

Take the Anchorage LGBT Survey

- by Shelby Carpenter

I am pleased to announce that the Anchorage LGBT Discrimination Survey is now available! This survey will collect information on experiences of bias and discrimination in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community in Anchorage, Alaska. It is the product of a coalition effort by organizations that serve the community, including Identity, Inc., Alaskan AIDS Assistance Association, Alaskans Together for Equality, Equality Works and the ACLU of Alaska.

It is the first survey of its kind in over 20 years, and the first to collect information about transgender Alaskans.

Please see below to take the survey. All answers are completely confidential, and survey administration has been designed to ensure the privacy of all respondents. While the survey website may contain cookies, your survey responses cannot be tied to your IP address.

An individual PIN number is required to access the survey. To request a PIN or for questions, contact Shelby Carpenter, LGBT Public Policy Director for the ACLU of Alaska, at (907) 263-2006 or at scarpenter@akclu.org. Paper surveys are also available upon request.

TO TAKE THE SURVEY, CLICK ON THIS LINK:

TAKE THE ANCHORAGE LGBT DISCRIMINATION SURVEY TODAY!

Anchorage Discrimination Survey to be distributed in early 2011

by Shelby Carpenter / Crossposted at Alaska LGBT Community Survey

During the 2009 battle over Anchorage Ordinance 64 — which would have added sexual orientation and gender identity to the Municipality of Anchorage’s equal rights code — one thing we heard from the opposition again and again was that there was no “proof” that discrimination was a problem that needed to be addressed. So this fall, a group of concerned community members and organizations came together to brainstorm how to compile this kind of information about the LGBT community in Alaska—both so that we can provide policymakers with accurate information, and so that we ourselves more fully understand the needs of our community. Thus, the Alaska LGBT Community Survey Task Force was born.

The Task Force will complete two important surveys over the coming years. Our broader, more long-term project is the Alaska LGBT Community Statewide Survey, which will provide an extensive profile of the LGBT community all across the state. Over the next six months, however, our focus is the Anchorage Discrimination Survey, which will focus exclusively on experiences of bias and discrimination by LGBT people in Anchorage. Please look for the survey in early 2011! We need as many respondents as possible, and all answers will be completely confidential. You can find more information about the survey at alaskacommunity.org.

I will be serving as Project Manager for the survey, so please also feel free to reach out to me by phone at (907) 263-2006 or by email at scarpenter@akclu.org about any questions you may have.

Shelby Carpenter is the LGBT Public Policy Director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska, and is Project Manager of the Alaska LGBT Community Survey Task Force.

The Community Survey: Who We Are

— by Mel Green, Crossposted from alaskacommunity.org.

In announcing the Alaska LGBT Community Survey — I call it AKQ for short — I frequently used the word "we." "We've decided…," "we'll use the survey…," "we aim…."

So just who are "we" — besides, of course, me?

In 1985-1986, "we" were the volunteers of Identity, Inc. which put together the survey instrument for One in Ten, administered it to LGB respondents throughout the state, tallied up the results, & wrote the report One in Ten: A Profile of Alaska's Lesbian & Gay Community (1986).

In 1987-1989, "we" were a lot of volunteers & a few people who got some pay (I think), who contacted & interviewed respondents who had experienced violence, harassment, discrimination because they were, or were perceived to be, lesbian or gay (yes, some of our respondents were heterosexual people who were misperceived at being homosexual), who surveyed Anchorage area landlords & employers, & who compiled the information gathered from those efforts & wrote them up in Identity Reports: Sexual Orientation Bias in Alaska (1989).

Right here & now, on September 13, 2010, "we" are three people who met last Thursday & decided to do this. Let me introduce us:

• Melissa S. "Mel" Green. I was part of the "we" in both 1985-86 effort that resulted in One in Ten, of which I was principal writer; and in the 1987-1989 effort which resulted in Identity Reports, of which I was coauthor (along with Jay Brause). I'm also have my personal blog, Henkimaa.com, from whence I did a lot of blogging last year about the Anchorage equal rights ordinance AO-64, which passed the Anchorage Assembly only to be vetoed by Mayor Dan Sullivan. I'm also a 20-year staff member at the UAA Justice Center, where I've grown even more familiar with social science research, and developed relationships with some of the research faculty who we hope to have help from throughout our work on the current survey.
• Shelby Carpenter is the LGBT Public Policy Director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska… and I'll let her tell you more about herself as she has time. [Ed: Read Shelby's introduction.]
• Barbara Soule is a longtime Alaska resident and LGBT community activist who is jumpstarting our outreach to the trans community. I'll let you her tell you more about herself as she has time, too.

By now, you might be asking, three people?!!! Just three people are going to conduct a high quality research project covering the LGBT population of the entire state of Alaska?!!!

Well, no. Because our very first step is to bring in more people. So right now the three of us are doing a lot of work behind-the-scenes to contact people to form our Community Survey Task Force. The Task Force's job will be defined more completely as its formed; but as I see it, it's functions will chiefly be to:

1. Revise and update the One in Ten survey questionnaire to reflect changes in society that have taken place since 1985, the need for trans-inclusiveness, and new questions/issues that we'd like to address in the survey. (And perhaps additional smaller surveys.)
2. Continue to conduct outreach to the LGBT and allied community in all areas of the state, both for complete coverage of our community in all its diversity, and in particular to solicit respondents who are willing to be interviewed about instances of discrimination, harassment, violence, or other forms of bias that they have experienced because they are, or were perceived to be, trans, bisexual, gay, or lesbian.
3. Coordinate distribution and administration of the survey, data entry, and analysis and writing of the report(s) of our findings.

We hope to have our first meeting of the Community Survey Task Force in late September/early October. By the necessities of geography and the inability of most people to be more than one place at one time, it may be that our first meeting can consist of only those people who can easily travel to Southcentral Alaska for an Anchorage-based meeting. But we will be working on how to make sure we can fully involve both organizations and individuals in all parts of the state.

Another task that we're working on already is beginning our outreach to the trans community. We are committed to making AKQ — again, that's what I've taken to calling the Alaska LGBT Community Survey for short — fully trans-inclusive, not only in the kinds of questions that appear in the survey — but also in participating on the Task Force in questionnaire design, administration, and analysis. All three of us are involved in some aspect of this, with Barbara and I contacting people we know in the Alaska trans community & Shelby working with national-level trans organizations and activists who have conducted research within the trans community throughout the country.

Barbara is also coordinating focus groups for members of the trans community to get input on questionnaire design. We hope to hold the first of these at the Alaska Pride Conference 2010 sponsored by Identity, Inc. to be held October 9 in Anchorage and a second one probably about a week later, also in Anchorage, for those who cannot attend the Pride Conference. We'll also work on how we can involve transfolk in other areas of the state in our research effort.

As we continue to organize our effort, I hope soon to be able to introduce other people involved in this effort on this blog; better yet, to let them introduce themselves & add their voices to this blog, & to our overall effort to invigorate & strengthen our community statewide & advance our effort for full social and economic justice for LGBT in Alaska & nationally.

Stay tuned to our progress and news about how to get involved by subscribing to this blog, "liking" our Facebook page, and/or following our Twitter feed @alaskacommunity. You can also write to us at anchoragecommunity@gmail.com. You can also find all our contact info on our About page.

Announcing the Alaska LGBT Community Survey

Crossposted from alaskacommunity.org.

Identity Reports (1989) and One in 10 (1986)

In the 1980s, the nonprofit organization Identity, Inc. conducted two major research efforts to profile Alaska's lesbian/gay/bisexual community and to document sexual orientation bias in Alaska.

One in Ten: A Profile of Alaska's Lesbian & Gay Community (1986) provided the first statewide portrait of Alaska's lesbian and gay (and to some extent bisexual) population, describing our experiences of coming out, of discrimination, our physical and emotional health, religious and political affiliations, demographic characteristics, and a general needs assessment. Identity Reports: Sexual Orientation Bias in Alaska(1989) focused on discrimination and bias, documenting 84 actual instances of antigay bias, discrimination, harassment, or violence (including three murders) around the state, as well as the positive willingness of 20% of landlords and 31% of employers in the Anchorage area to discriminate against persons who were — or were perceived to be — gay or lesbian.

A lot has changed in the two-and-a-half decades since. There's a lot more live-and-let-live, a lot more acceptance of lesbians and gays. Yet the continuing legacy of antigay prejudice and discrimination persists. Arguably, prejudice against transfolk is even more virulent — often even within our own community.

One of the chief arguments used by opponents of last year's Anchorage Ordinance 64 — which would have added sexual orientation and gender identityto the Municipality of Anchorage's equal rights code — was that there was no evidence of discrimination against LGBT people. This claim was made in spite of the weight of evidence provided in One in Ten and Identity Reports. But of course, that evidence was two decades old, so ordinance opponents found it easy to ignore; and they found it just as easy to close their ears to the public testimony of Anchorage LGBT residents who stepped forward to testify to very recent experiences of discrimination and bias — even as one opponent openly told the Assembly that he'd once beaten a gay man so badly that he put him in the hospital.

And so — we've decided to bring One in Ten up-to-date by conducting a new statewide survey — the Alaska LGBT Community Survey. Like its predecessor, the Alaska LGBT Community Survey aims to create a profile of our community in all its diversity and with all its diverse concerns; and as we did in 1985-86, we'll use the survey as vehicle to solicit case histories to document our community's continuing experiences with discrimination, harassment, and violence. Unlike One in Ten, the Alaska LGBT Community Survey will include transfolk as well as gay, lesbian, and bisexual folk, in the design of the survey questionnaire as well as in filling it out.

We're in a very early stage right now. We just made the firm commitment to do this last week! But we wanted to tell you about it right away.

We aim to have at least initial results of our survey by April 2011. For more and continuing information as we go along:

• subscribe to our blog at alaskacommunity.org;
• "like" our Facebook page;
• follow @alaskacommunity on Twitter; or
• do all three!

We'll also doing our best to keep you updated through our regular LGBT news channels such as Bent Alaska, TransAlaska Pipeline, Grrlzlist, the Alaska GLBT News maillist, and — well, yeah, my own blog, Henkimaa.

Stay tuned!

— Melissa S. (Mel) Green

Learn more about Identity Reports and One in Ten.