“The LGBTQ community does not have the same rights that the majority of workers enjoy. It is not fair that solely because of my gender identity that I have fewer rights than other residents of NY.”
– Jocelyn Mendoza, transgender Latina woman from Brooklyn
In the spring and summer of 2013, Make the Road New York surveyed over 250 LGBTQ and gender non-conforming identified individuals about their experiences with gender identity/expression employment discrimination. The individuals surveyed had applied for jobs in a variety of different industries, including retail, finance, and education. We also surveyed more than 100 non-LGBTQ identified individuals. Surveys were conducted at local community organizations, LGBTQ support groups, and public events. Finally, we collected in-depth testimonies from transgender and gender non-conforming identified individuals about their experiences with employment discrimination. Those testimonies are included in this report.
Make the Road New York also partnered with the Attorney General’s Office to conduct match pair testing in retail and food service businesses. Since the analysis of the testing is still underway, we will not be publishing findings at this point but will publish an addendum once the project is complete. To date, we have investigated a total of thirteen retail and food establishments in the Jackson Heights/Corona and Elmhurst sections of Queens.