85 percent of LGBT+ Americans are scared of holding hands in public
85 percent of LGBT+ people had some fear of holding hands in public. (INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP/Getty)
An overwhelming majority of LGBT+ Americans fear holding hands with someone of the same sex in public, according to a survey by Whitman Insight Strategies and Buzzfeed News.
85 percent of 801 respondents said they had some level of fear when displaying this type of affection in public spaces.
Only 15 percent said they had no fear at all of holding hands or showing other displays of affection in public, with 16 percent saying they were “very afraid.”
41 percent said they were “somewhat afraid” and 28 percent said they were “not too afraid.”
More than three quarters of LGBT+ Americans surveyed said they believed that transgender people experienced more discrimination.
With this in mind, just over 8 out of ten trans people said they were “very” or “somewhat afraid” to hold hands in public, and not a single respondent said they had “no fear at all.”
LGBT+ people face discrimination in many different settings. (Dan Kitwood/Getty)
Trans people reported higher rates of discrimination in all setting; 47 percent had personally experienced discrimination in the workplace, compared with 26 percent of LGBT+ Americans in general.
36 percent had been refused by service a business, compared to 12 percent generally.
Of all LGBT+ people surveyed, 77 percent said they were discriminated again sometimes or often when they apply for jobs.
In terms of offensive slurs; 59 percent of LGBT+ people said they had been called a slur, and 81 percent of transgender people said the same.
60 percent of LGBT+ people say there is a problem with anti-trans discrimination within the community itself
However, respondents said there was also discrimination within the LGBT+ community itself.
The types of prejudice cited as problematic included anti-transgender discrimination (60 percent), sexism (51percent), and racism (52 percent).
Two thirds of gay men said they would never consider dating someone who was transgender, and for LGBT+ people as a whole 40 percent said they would not date a trans person.
Donald Trump received a 77 percent disapproval rating from respondents for his track record with the community.
