There is, for example, no federal nondiscrimination protection on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Whether these massive changes have translated into improvements in workplace outcomes for the average gay man or lesbian, however, is not so obvious. For LGBTQ people, it has certainly seemed as if, in the language of columnist Dan Savage’s 2010 campaign to combat the epidemic of LGBT youth suicide, “It Gets Better.” LGBTQ people are highly visible in the media, on television, in the movies, and in the C-suites of major companies like Apple, Google, and IBM. Same-sex couples throughout the country can now get legally married after the 2015 Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v.
A recent Pew Research Foundation study reported that 92% of all LGBTQ adults felt that society is more accepting of them than a decade ago, and 87% of adults report personally knowing someone who is gay or lesbian (up from 61% in 1993). Acceptance of LGBTQ people in all spheres of society – work, family, and community – has grown at a remarkable pace in the United States.
