LibGuides: LGBTQIA+ Resources: Relevant Issues in the LGBTQIA Community

At ACC

Chosen Name

Austin Community College recognizes that faculty, staff and students may use names other than their legal name to identify themselves. The College has created a process in order to allow students to request use of a chosen first name where possible within the College's records and systems. Legal names will continue to be used when necessary for College business or legal purposes.

All Gender Restroom Directory

Each campus has at least one all gender restroom. All gender restrooms are for anyone to use, regardless of gender. These facilities can benefit transgender and gender diverse individuals, and those with caregivers of a different gender.

Employee Freedom from Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation

The College prohibits discrimination, including harassment, against any employee on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), national origin, age, veteran’s status, disability, genetic information or any other basis prohibited by law in its employment policies and practices.

Prohibition of Sexual Misconduct

It is the policy of the Austin Community College District (“ACC” or the “College”) to maintain an environment for students, employees, and visitors that is free of all forms of discrimination and harassment, including sex-based discrimination and gender-based harassment and discrimination that is non-sexual.

Health

Advancing Health Care Nondiscrimination Protections for LGBTQI+ Communities
In this report from the Center for American Progress new data reveal that LGBTQI+ communities encounter discrimination and other challenges when interacting with health care providers and health insurers, underscoring the importance of strengthening nondiscrimination protections through Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act.
Anti-LGBTQ Policy Proposals Can Harm Youth Mental Health
Discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and/or questioning (LGBTQ)* youth remains a contributing factor to the disproportionately high rates of socio-emotional distress and mental illness among LGBTQ youth, when compared to straight and cisgender youth.
Dominique Parris, Emily Fulks, Claire Kelley
Publication Date: July 7, 2021
US Professional Association for Transgender Health
USPATH Position Statement on Legislative and Executive Actions Regarding the Medical Care of Transgender Youth

Safety

LGBTQ+ STATE · SAFETY RANKINGS – 2021 –
To help LGBTQ individuals make an informed decision about the best places to live, our research team compiled state-by-state rankings from over a dozen sources (including the FBI, UCLA School of Law, the U.S. Census, and more). Through this research we’ve created comprehensive safety rankings that highlight some of the best and worst states to live from the perspective of LGBTQ+ safety.
The 203 Worst (& Safest) Countries for LGBTQ+ Travel in 2022
After 350+ hours of research, we’ve reviewed all countries’ individual laws and gathered data from a variety of trusted international sources to create the definitive “LGBTQ+ Travel Safety Index” that will help you find the safest (and least safe) countries for your next trip abroad.

Locally

Shout Out Austin LGBTQIA+ Quality of Life Study
This report summarizes the results of the Shout Out Austin Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual (LGBTQIA+) Quality of Life Study conducted on behalf of the City of Austin’s Equity Office and the LGBTQ Quality of Life Advisory Commission, which aimed to center equity by ensuring the voices of marginalized community members were represented in the study.
Trans Voters in Texas
Every eligible voter in Texas has the fundamental right to cast a ballot that is fairly and accurately counted, free from intimidation or harassment. Unfortunately, because of bias and discrimination in the law when it comes to gender identity and expression, transgender voters in Texas may face unique obstacles while trying to cast a ballot. From challenges like difficulties in obtaining an ID that’s accepted at the polls to dealing with untrained poll workers who may ask inappropriate questions, we want to ensure that transgender Texans know their rights when casting a ballot.

Austin ranked #8 among the top 20 cities for LGBTQ retirement in 2019!

Retirement

Retirement Confidence Survey and the LGBTQ Community.
The article reports on the highlights of the 32nd Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS) to measure attitudes on the various issues/products for retirement by U.S. workers and retirees, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) workers and retirees. The survey also identified the differences in experiences, behaviors and attitudes of workers in relation to financial management and retirement.
EBRI Issue Brief. 6/14/2022, Issue 560

Employment

Protections Against Employment Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity
This document briefly explains the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County and the EEOC’s established legal positions on sexual-orientation- and gender-identity-related workplace discrimination issues.
LGBT People’s Experiences of Workplace Discrimination and Harassment
Using survey data collected in May 2021, this report from the Williams Institute examines the lifetime, five-year, and past-year experiences of discrimination among LGBT employees. It is one of the first studies to look at LGBT employment discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the year following Bostock v. Clayton County.

Connection

Queering the Map
Queering the Map is a community generated counter-mapping platform for digitally archiving LGBTQ2IA+ experience in relation to physical space.
The platform provides an interface to collaboratively record the cartography of queer life—from park benches to the middle of the ocean—in order to preserve our histories and unfolding realities, which continue to be invalidated, contested, and erased. From collective action to stories of coming out, encounters with violence to moments of rapturous love, Queering the Map functions as a living archive of queer life. If it counts to you, then it counts for Queering the Map.
Through mapping LGBTQ2IA+ experience in its intersectional permutations, the project works to generate affinities across difference and beyond borders—revealing the ways in which we are intimately connected.

Nationally

Fact Sheet on Injustice in the LGBTQ community
From the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), the leading nonprofit in providing information and tools to prevent and respond to sexual violence and envisions a world where diversity is celebrated and all people are treated with dignity and respect and have full autonomy over their own bodies and sexual expression.
GLAAD Accountability Project
The GLAAD Accountability Project monitors and documents individual public figures and groups using their platforms to spread misinformation and false rhetoric against LGBTQ people, youth, and allies.
LEGISLATION AFFECTING LGBTQ RIGHTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY
This webpage from the ACLU is updated on a monthly basis on Fridays through December, and then weekly beginning in January when most state sessions resume
The State of the LGBTQ Community in 2020
A comprehensive new study from the Center for American Progress finds that many LGBTQ people continue to face discrimination in their personal lives, in the workplace and the public sphere, and in their access to critical health care.
What Financial Planning Looks Like for L.G.B.T.Q. People
The cost of family planning and transition care — and other personal finance stories from L.G.B.T.Q. people.
The New York Times

Housing

The good and bad news about housing for LGBTQ Americans
LGBTQ Americans finally won Fair Housing Act protections. Here’s how they’re working.
By Rachel M. Cohen Vox Media May 11, 2022
HOUSING DISCRIMINATION AND PERSONS IDENTIFYING AS LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER, AND/OR QUEER/QUESTIONING (LGBTQ)
Persons who identify as LGBTQ and believe they have experienced housing discrimination because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity can assert their rights under the Fair Housing Act by filing a complaint with HUD.
LGBTQ EQUITY AND HOUSING FACT SHEET
Research is increasingly clear that stable, affordable housing is a critical driver of positive outcomes in many areas of life, but such housing is much less assured for the LGBTQ community

Education

Resources for LGBTQI+ Students
The mission of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is to ensure equal access to education and to promote educational excellence through vigorous enforcement of civil rights in our nation's schools. To serve this mission, OCR enforces civil rights laws to protect all students from unlawful discrimination and harassment based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, and age. Federal law requires schools to ensure that LGBTQI+ students and other students have equal access to all aspects of a school’s programs and activities.
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS: STUDENTS & LGBTQ RIGHTS AT SCHOOL
Through legal action and educational campaigns, the Southern Poverty Law Center is working to ensure that school environments are inclusive, equitable and safe for all students.