New Report Chronicles Gay Rights Advances Since 2000

A new report shows the past decade has been a period of dramatic gains for LGBT people in the US. Two-thirds of the 36 statistical indicators compiled in A Decade of Progress on LGBT Rights showed significant advances, including significant increases in the number of LGBT Americans protected by nondiscrimination and family recognition legislation at the state level. "The remarkable achievements toward LGBT equality tend to be obscured by day-to-day struggles, and overall progress often goes unnoticed nationally," said Linda Bush, Executive Director of the LGBT Movement Advancement Project (MAP). "By looking broadly at the last decade, this report gives a much fuller perspective on where we are today -- and how far we've come in just ten years." According to a press release, the report's key measures of progress include: Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation: The number of states outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation increased 83 percent, from 12 to 22, between 2000 and 2009. The percentage of the U.S. population living in states banning discrimination based on sexual orientation soared from 24.5 percent to 44.1 percent, an 80 percent increase. In other words, today 134 million Americans are now living in states where discrimination based on sexual orientation has been outlawed, an increase of 65 million over the decade. (When local nondiscrimination laws passed by cities without statewide protections are included, the figure is over 50 percent of the U.S. population.) Fortune 500 companies that protect workers based on sexual orientation grew from 51 percent to 88 percent. Full Story from SheWired: http://www.shewired.com/Article.cfm?Section=1&ID=24110

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