Policy Roundup: COVID-19 & The LGBTQ Community

The LGBTQ community, including frontline workers, have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. LGBTQ folks work in fields heavily affected by the pandemic, like retail and restaurants. About 17% of LGBTQ adults don’t have health insurance compared to non-LGBTQ adults, but also may be at higher risk with asthma, chronic health conditions or lack of care and support from family. All of these disparities are further compounded for low-income people of color. 

Many people have drawn parallels between the AIDS epidemic and COVID-19, but activists want to be clear--no one responded to people dying of AIDS. During this time, the needs of the LGBTQ community are still overlooked and COVID-19 requires a queer response. In an open letter over 170 local, state, and national organizations, advocates called for nondiscrimination in healthcare settings, reporting the impact of COVID on the LGBTQ community, and the protection of their economic livelihood. 

EMPLOYMENT: The Supreme Court is reviewing cases in New York, Michigan, and Georgia where workers were fired because they were gay or transgender. Many LGBTQ frontline workers are employed in states that don’t explicitly ban sex discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Courts and the Equal Opportunity Opportunity Commission often interprets Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include those categories, but it isn’t guaranteed. 

The late Aimee Stephens, for example, had been fired from her job as a funeral home director in Garden City, Michigan when she told her boss she wanted to be known as Aimee, not Anthony. Stephens, who recently passed away from kidney failure, and her partner faced hardship in end-of-life care without a job--or health insurance. 

HEALTH CARE: Adequate healthcare is in jeopardy, as well. With Medicaid cuts in NYS and lack of federal support, key community health centers, where members of the LGBTQ community are comfortable, are at risk. Callen Lorde Community Health Center, for example, received less than $600,000 in stimulus funds, which sustains payroll for one week, while loans for Shake Shack and Ruth’s Chris Steak House were automatically approved. 

HOMELESSNESS: LGBTQ teens and young adults are twice as likely to be homeless than their peers and that’s a problem--not only because of the condition of (and lack of capacity) throughout the city’s shelter system, and the shutdown of the subway for overnight cleaning where many of our city’s homeless stay, but also the temporary closure of critical hubs of support like The Center.

HOUSING: The rate of COVID cases across NYCHA housing is more than twice the citywide rate--90 percent of those residents are black or Hispanic who are disproportionately affected due to chronic conditions like hypertension, asthma, and diabetes. While public housing maintenance delays have been a long-standing problem, some NYCHA residents only started receiving masks and other protective equipment in early May. 

ACCOUNTABILITY: Senator Brad Hoylman is introducing legislation to require NYS Department of Health to collect data on the sexual orientation and gender identity of people diagnosed with COVID-19. Hoylman suggests that the information, which could be collected voluntarily by survey or at the point of care, will provide a greater understanding of how the LGBTQ community has been impacted. Similar legislation has already been introduced in California--and nationally has the support of at least 100 Congressional members.

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