Madrid (EFE).- 40% of LGTBI people hide their sexual orientation or gender identity in the workplace and in job interviews, according to the II Survey on LGTBI people at work in Spain, carried out by UGT and presented this Wednesday at the Ministry of Equality.
The LGTBI confederal head of the UGT and coordinator of the study, Toño Abad, has presented this study together with the minister, Irene Montero, who has stressed that only with the data on the discrimination suffered by LGTBI people can “know the reality, deny hoaxes, combat LGTBIphobia and make effective public policies that improve the lives of the collective”.
Sexual orientation, a “disadvantage” when looking for a job
The coordinator of the study has indicated that 75% of the workers of the group surveyed “consider that they do not have the same opportunities as heterosexual people at work”, a percentage that rises to 83% if they are trans or non-binary.
Thus, seven out of ten believe that their sexual orientation or gender identity is an “inconvenience” when looking for a job and 55% acknowledge having been directly or indirectly excluded in job interviews “due to the stereotyped image and prejudices” that exist about LGTBI people.
In addition, 50% of the workers in the group who have participated in the study -for which 2,400 interviews have been carried out- believe that they are not socially accepted, something that 70% of trans people also perceive.
Abad has pointed out that this situation causes a large part of LGTBI people not to exercise rights that are inherent to them as workers, such as requesting paid leave to accompany their partners during an illness or to get married.
“We avoid talking about our personal lives, which excludes us from the realm of sociability and makes us the weirdos in the office,” he asserts.
Discrimination against trans people
Abad has emphasized that this discrimination is suffered especially by trans people, who sometimes come to practice prostitution due to difficulties in accessing employment.
Specifically, 13% of the trans men participating in the study and 26% of the women have resorted to prostitution, although all those surveyed acknowledged that they would not have done so “in any case” if they had had another opportunity.
Regarding the violence suffered by the collective in the workplace, the most widespread practices are jokes and rumors, something that 78% of LGTBI workers have suffered.
Half have also been victims of insults and disqualifications, behaviors that, in the words of Abad, are “harassing” and not specific events, since they are repeated regularly.
Regarding this harassment of the people of the collective, the coordinator of the study has accused the right, which in his words, “goes moderate but rides on the back of fascism” to “try to erase our rights.”
“The danger is not the organized LGTBI people”, warned Abad, who stressed that “the danger lies in the pacts that are being signed in the town halls and the autonomous communities”, referring to the government agreements of PP and Vox .