Contemporary Human Resources Issues for the Modern LGBT+ Adult

Abstract

Individuals within the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender plus (LGBT+) community have been discriminated against in employment and related factors since the early 20th century. Discrimination has appeared in subtle and implicit forms such as same-sex partners not receiving their spouse’s employer-sponsored healthcare benefits to explicit forms such as transgender individuals being outright banned from serving in the military. These biases and forms of discrimination are the results of historic political and social events that either reinforced or did not challenge negative stereotypes about the LGBT+ community. Negative biases towards the LGBT+ community have created systemic underemployment for LGBT+ adults compared to unemployment for the general American society. To mitigate this, some corporations have made their workplaces LGBT+ friendly. As a direct result of potentially indirect action, firms who are labeled as LGBT+ friendly are better positioned to reap additional economic benefits from this status from both LGBT+-identifying individuals and all Americans.