Abstract
This article examines the incidents of discrimination, harassment and violence experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) individuals in Germany, Portugal and the UK. Using a large cross-national survey and adopting an intra-categorical intersectional approach, it documents how the likelihood of experiencing discrimination, harassment and violence changes within LGBT communities across three national contexts. Moreover, it explores how individual characteristics are associated with the likelihood of experiencing such incidents. The results show that trans people are more at risk compared to cisgender gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals to experience discrimination, harassment and violence. However, other factors, such as socioeconomic resources, also affect the likelihood of individuals experiencing such incidents. The three countries in our study show some nuanced differences in likelihood levels of experiencing discrimination, harassment and violence with regard to differential categories of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Highlights
Just over 50 years ago, most Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans (LGBT) individuals were criminalised in the vast majority of countries around the world and were socially excluded from their societies because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity
McCall describes this approach as interrogating ‘the boundary-making and boundary-defining process’ and acknowledging ‘the stable and even durable relationships that social categories represent’ (McCall, 2005: 1774). This is critical for our study because we aim to explore the diversity within the LGBT communities and approach the analytic categories critically, but unlike the anti-categorical approach, we use these categories to examine inequalities related to self-reported sexual orientation and gender identity rather than deconstruct these identities entirely
We identify discrimination, harassment and violence or threat of violence (DHV) as behaviours stemming from homophobia, biphobia and transphobia, themselves premised on hetero-cisnormative social structures, institutions and practices1 (Worthen, 2016)
Summary
Just over 50 years ago, most Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans (LGBT) individuals were criminalised in the vast majority of countries around the world and were socially excluded from their societies because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. LGBT individuals in these countries have gained more recognition, as well as varying degrees of rights and forms of legal protection, which have aimed to eliminate discrimination and inequality against them. While these developments have significantly improved the lives of LGBT individuals, research continues to document that LGBT people still experience hostility and discrimination in their everyday lives (FRA, 2014). This article considers self-reported experiences of DHV in relation to differences within and between gender identity and sexual orientation, along with other social characteristics It compares these incidents across three different national contexts and discusses the potential reasons why these national differences exist
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