Gay people expect discrimination ....

saratiddyTue 01/04/08 15:21

Gay people expect discrimination in all walks of life

(A new survey released today by Stonewall has found that gay, bisexual and lesbian people think that everyone from public services to political parties treat them less favourably because of their sexuality.

1,600 LGB people took part in the online survey by YouGov, the web polling company's first survey of the gay population.

The results paint a depressing picture of perceived prejudice in Britain.

The Stonewall survey, entitled Serves You Right, covered employment, political representation, housing, health, education, the police, the criminal justice system, and broadcasting.

Nearly one in five lesbian and gay people who responded to the survey said they have experienced bullying from their work colleagues because of their sexual orientation.

The poll indicates that lesbian and gay people in occupational groups C2DE are 50% more likely to experience bullying than those in occupational groups ABC1.

Among those who have experienced bullying, a quarter were bullied by their manager, half by people in their own team and nearly a third by people junior to them.

With regards to political parties, 89% of those polled think they would face barriers from the Conservative party if they wanted to be selected to run for parliament.

61% said the same about Labour and 47% about the Liberal Democrats.

Of those respondents who are party supporters, 71% of Conservatives, 46% of Labour and 28% of Lib Dems thought they would face barriers if they wanted to stand for Parliament.

The BNP topped the poll with 99% thinking they would be treated less favourably, followed by UKIP at 93%.

82% thought Scottish National Party gay, bisexual or lesbian potential candidates would face prejudice from within the party.

The Greens did best with 29%.

84% thought they would face prejudice if they wanted to become a Plaid Cymru MP, despite the fact that one of their two MPs is openly gay.

When asked about running as local councilors, nearly two thirds would expect to face barriers from the Labour Party, nearly nine in ten would expect to face barriers from the Conservative Party, and half would expect to encounter barriers from the Liberal Democrats.

In terms of regional breakdown for the three main parties, respondents in the North East of England were the most pessimistic across the political spectrum.

In housing, one in five lesbian and gay people think they would be treated worse when applying for social housing.

This rises to one in four among young [18-24] and older [over 55] gay people.

Gay women are more likely to expect discrimination when applying for social housing.

14% of respondents in Wales thought they would be treated worse than a heterosexual if they were admitted to hospital in an emergency, compared to 2% in the South West of England.

In education, 27% of lesbian and gay people over the age of 50 experienced homophobic bullying.

Stonewall's School Report found that 65% of young lesbian and gay people at school in 2007 had experienced homophobic bullying.

Just over half of those now over the age of 50 witnessed homophobic bullying of others while as many as 86% of those now aged 18-24 witnessed homophobic bullying of others.

82% of lesbian and gay people say they would not have felt able to come out at school.

Three in ten lesbian and gay people expect to be treated worse than heterosexuals if they enrol their child in primary or secondary school.

Eighteen to twenty-four year olds are more likely to expect less favourable treatment as a result of being gay.

Four in five lesbian and gay people also expect to face discrimination if they were to apply to become a school governor.

Nine in ten lesbian and gay people would expect to face barriers if they applied to become foster parents.

Lesbian and gay people in Scotland expect to face more significant barriers compared to those in other parts of the UK.

Two in five lesbian and gay parents expect to be treated worse than heterosexuals if they were to appear before a family court in a divorce or custody case.

Nearly half of lesbian and gay people without children anticipate discrimination from a family court judge in the same circumstances.

Lesbian and gay people also expect that they will be treated worse than heterosexuals if they report or commit a crime.

Nearly one in three lesbian and gay people have reported an offence or possible offence to the police in the last 12 months.

More than one in five lesbian and gay people would expect to be treated worse than heterosexuals when reporting a crime if the police officer knew they were lesbian or gay.

Age has a significant bearing on their expectations.

Lesbian and gay people over the age of 50 are twice as likely to think this compared to people aged between 18 and 29.

A quarter of lesbian and gay people in London think they will be treated less favourably if they report a homophobic crime, and this rises to a third of lesbian and gay people in Scotland, Wales, Yorkshire and the East Midlands.

Lesbian and gay people over the age of 50 are even more wary; nearly two in five older lesbian and gay people expect to be treated worse if they report a homophobic hate crime.

More than a third of lesbian and gay people think the police would treat them worse than a heterosexual because of their sexual orientation if they committed a crime or were suspected of committing a crime.

Three in ten lesbian and gay people think that the police would be more likely to stop them than heterosexuals to require them to produce their identity card, were they to be introduced.

Again older gay people are more wary of police with half of lesbian and gay people over the age of 50 saying the police would be more likely to request their identity card than that of a heterosexual.

One in six LGB people think they would be treated worse than heterosexuals if they appeared before a magistrate for a minor offence.

60% of lesbian and gay people would expect to face barriers to becoming a magistrate because of their sexual orientation.

Nearly a quarter of lesbian and gay people think they would be treated worse if they appeared before a judge for a major offence.

Six in ten gay men, and half of women, think they would be treated worse by a prison officer if it was known they were lesbian or gay.

Finally, nearly half of respondents thought the portrayal of lesbian and gay people on television is unrealistic with women and young people more likely to think this.

Lesbian and gay people are twice as likely to think that Channel 4 broadcasts more realistic portrayals of gay people, compared to other terrestrial channels.

Eight in ten lesbian and gay people think Channel 4 will take complaints about homophobia as seriously as, or more seriously than, other complaints.

However they believe ITV and Channel 5 are less likely to take them seriously.

"From police stations to family courts and from housing to health services, gay people remain uncertain of fair treatment, an uncertainty all too often derived from personal experience," said Stonewall chief executive Ben Summerskill.

"This research provides a powerful reminder that the equality of output which remains central to any aspiration for personalised 21st-century publ