Those who identify as allies of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are far more supportive of equality in the workplace

October 27, 2011

Out & Equal Logo

The Harris Poll Logo Witeck Combs Logo

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

More than one quarter of Americans consider themselves to be an ally of LGBT people.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, WASHINGTON, DC and NEW YORK, NY– October 27, 2011 – According to the 2011 Out & Equal Workplace Survey, more than a quarter – or 27% – of heterosexuals consider themselves to be an ally of LGBT people. About one in five, 22%, heterosexuals are not at all sure. These heterosexual allies are more likely support equal workplace policies, with a strong majority, 63%, favoring written nondiscrimination policies compared to only 27% of those that do not identify as allies. When asked if they favor written nondiscrimination policies that include gender identity, more than half – or 56% – of heterosexual LGBT allies agreed, compared to 26% of non-allies.

“Advancing issues that are important to the LGBT community require the support and collaboration of straight allies who share the virtues of workplace equality,” said Myron E. (Mike) Ullman, III, chairman and chief executive officer of jcpenney. “Leaders are instrumental to this dynamic by creating an environment where barriers and solutions are openly discussed – reinforcing the notion that everyone plays a role in being a conduit for change.”

Mr. Ullman is one of the keynote speakers on the final day of this year’s Out & Equal Workplace Summit, considered the world’s premier conference on LGBT workplace equality and attracting thousands of participants.

The 2011 Out & Equal Workplace Survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive® in conjunction with Out & Equal Workplace Advocates and Witeck-Combs Communications, among 2,610 U.S. adults, of whom 2,238 indicated they are heterosexual and 304 self-identified as LGBT. Beginning in 2002, this survey has become a trusted annual barometer of attitudes surrounding LGBT issues in the workplace and is the longest-running national survey of its kind.

Looking further into the differences between those that identify as allies and those that do not, we found that 45% of heterosexual LGBT allies keep informed on LGBT issues, compared to only 7% of non-allies. When asked about policies that protect transgender workers, almost nine out of ten, 87%, of heterosexual LGBT allies agreed, compared to only 68% of non-allies, that an employee should be judged on their performance, not whether or not they are transgender.

Perhaps most encouraging, allies are more likely to get involved when they see inequality in action.
A strong majority, 64%, of heterosexual LGBT allies speak up against anti-LGBT discussions when they hear them, compared to only 16% of non-LGBT allies. Also, three out of five – or 60% – of heterosexual LGBT allies speak up or report it when they hear anti-gay remarks at work, compared to only 14% of non- allies.

The Out & Equal Workplace Summit is being held October 25-28 in Dallas, TX, at the Hilton Anatole. LGBT employees and straight allies, along with human resources and diversity professionals, representing some of the nation’s leading companies—a majority from the Fortune 500—are set to participate in this year’s summit, focused on achieving workplace equality.

For more information about the Summit or to register, please visit www.outandequal.org.

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TABLE 1
ALLIES OF LGBT PEOPLE
Do you consider yourself to be an ally of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people?

Base: All adults

Total Sexual orientation
GLBT Gay/Lesbian Heterosexual
Yes 30% 83% 90% 27%
No 48% 10% 3% 51%
Not at all sure 21% 7% 7% 22%

Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 2A
NONDISCRIMINATION POLICIES – SEXUAL ORIENTATION
How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following statements?

“I favor written nondiscrimination policies that include sexual orientation.”

Base: All adults

Total GLBT Gay/Lesbian Heterosexual Heterosexual Allies of LGBT people
Ally Not an ally
AGREE (NET) 41% 72% 85% 39% 63% 27%
   Strongly agree 26% 58% 77% 24% 45% 15%
   Somewhat agree 15% 14% 8% 15% 18% 13%
Neither agree nor disagree 25% 15% 7% 25% 16% 29%
DISAGREE (NET) 12% 4% 1% 13% 8% 17%
   Somewhat disagree 4% 1% * 5% 2% 6%
   Strongly disagree 8% 4% 1% 8% 5% 11%
Not applicable 17% 5% 8% 18% 12% 21%
Decline to answer 5% 4% 5% 1% 6%

Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 2B
NONDISCRIMINATION POLICIES – GENDER IDENTITY
How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following statements?

“I favor written nondiscrimination policies that include gender identity.”

Base: All adults
table here
Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 3A
ALLY BEHAVIOR – SPEAK UP OR REPORT ANTI GAY REMARKS AT WORK
Please say how often, if at all, the following behaviors are true for you.

“I speak up or report it when I hear anti-gay remarks at work”

Base: All adults
table here
Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 3B
ALLY BEHAVIOR – DONATE MONEY
Please say how often, if at all, the following behaviors are true for you.

“I donate money to LGBT causes”

Base: All adults
table here
Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 3C
ALLY BEHAVIOR – ATTEND EVENTS
Please say how often, if at all, the following behaviors are true for you.

Base: All adults
table here
Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 3D
ALLY BEHAVIOR – KEEP INFORMED
Please say how often, if at all, the following behaviors are true for you.

“I keep informed about issues of importance to the LGBT community”

Base: All adults
table here
Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 3E
ALLY BEHAVIOR – SUPPORT POLICIES
Please say how often, if at all, the following behaviors are true for you.

“I support policies that ban discrimination against LGBT people”

Base: All adults
table here
Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 3F
ALLY BEHAVIOR – SPEAK UP AGAINST ANTI LGBT DISCUSSIONS
Please say how often, if at all, the following behaviors are true for you.

“I speak up against anti-LGBT discussions when I hear them”

Base: All adults
table here
Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 4
TRANSGENDER PROTECTIONS
Transgender is a broad term that applies to people who live all or much of their lives expressing a different gender from their sex at birth. In other words, transgender people simply feel like their assigned sex at birth fails to reflect their true gender. Or said another way, a person that is born female feels that they really should have been born a male and wishes to live openly as a man (or vice versa). How strongly do you agree or disagree with each of the following statements?

“How an employee performs at their job should be the standard for judging an employee, not whether or not they are transgender.”

Base: All adults
table here
Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding

About Out & Equal Workplace Advocates

Out & Equal Workplace Summit is the largest national nonprofit organization devoted exclusively to LGBT workplace Equality. Every year, the organization hosts the annual Out & Equal Workplace Summit that is devoted to furthering workplace equality. This year’s Summit will bring together nearly 2,000 LGBT employees, allies, human resources professionals, LGBT workplace advocates and other committed to achieving equality in the workplace. This year’s speaker lineup is impressive, including Sander van ‘t Noordende, Group Chief Executive at Accenture; Assistant Secretary of Disability Employment Policy Kathy Martinez; Bravo’s Andy Cohen;Rick Welts, the first openly gay executive of a men’s professional sports team; actress and author Meredith Baxter; Paul Bell, President of the Public & Large Enterprise Business Unit at Dell; and veteran political strategist Donna Brazile.

In addition to the annual Workplace Summit, Out & Equal offers: Building Bridges Diversity Training specific to LGBT workplace issues; a growing network of regional affiliates that includes New York City, Dallas/Fort Worth, San Francisco, Chicago, Rocky Mountain, Arizona, Washington, DC, Southern California, Philadelphia, Kansas City, Portland, and Seattle; provides support to LGBT employee resource groups; offers the monthly Town Call speaker series webinars; a national quarterly newsletter; its unique career development website LGBTCareerLink; the LGBTBusinessofChange.org digital platform and the annual Executive Forum.

Out & Equal is headquartered in San Francisco, Calif. Out & Equal champions safe and equitable workplaces for LGBT. The organization advocates building and strengthening successful organizations that value all employees, customers and communities.

For more information, including how to register for the Summit, visit www.outandequal.org.

Methodology

Harris Interactive conducted the study online within the United States between September 12 and 19, 2011, among 2,610 adults (ages 18 and over), of whom 2,238 indicated they are heterosexual and 304 self-identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (including an over-sample of lesbian and gay adults). Figures for age, sex, race, education, region and income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. In addition, the results for the gay and lesbian sample were weighted separately based on profiles of the gay and lesbian population that Harris Interactive has compiled through many different online surveys. Propensity score weighting also was used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words “margin of error” as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

About Witeck-Combs Communications, Inc.

Witeck-Combs Communications, Inc. is the nation’s premier marketing communications and consulting firm, specializing in developing and implementing effective strategies reaching the gay and lesbian consumer market. With over 16 years experience in this unique market, Witeck-Combs Communications not only serves as a bridge between corporate America and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender consumers (LGBT), but also provides counsel to countless non-profit organizations that aim to educate the public on gay and lesbian issues or to better reach their LGBT membership.

In April 2003, American Demographics magazine identified Bob Witeck and Wes Combs as two of 25 experts over the last 25 years who have made significant contributions to the fields of demographics, market research, media and trendspotting for their path breaking work on the gay and lesbian market, and in 2006 Bob Witeck and Wes Combs co-authored Business Inside Out: Capturing Millions of Brand Loyal Gay Consumers (Kaplan Publishing), considered the first-ever book on marketing insights, practical tips and strategies targeting the LGBT market. They have appeared in worldwide media outlets including Fortune, CNBC, CNN, Reuters, Associated Press, Ad Age, New York Times and Washington Post. For more information, visit www.witeckcombs.com.

About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is one of the world’s leading custom market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers expertise in a wide range of industries including healthcare, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Serving clients in over 215 countries and territories through our North American and European offices and a network of independent market research firms, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us – and our clients – stay ahead of what’s next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.

Press Contacts:

Justin Tanis
Out & Equal Workplace Advocates
Cell: 505-610-7812
Jtanis@outandequal.org

Wesley Combs
Witeck-Combs Communications
202-887-0500 ext. 14
Cell: 202-439-1827
wcombs@witeckcombs.com

Harris Interactive, Inc.
Corporate Communications
212-539-9600
press@harrisinteractive.net