Previous Survey Results

In 2012, Lambda Legal—a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of LGBTQ+ people and those living with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work—conducted a national study to explore government misconduct by the police, courts, prisons and school security against LGBTQ+ people as well as people living with HIV in the United States. A total of 2,376 people completed the individual survey.

Our study, like others, has found that LGBTQ+ people and people living with HIV experience significant discrimination at the hands of government entities. Police and other government entities, through their actions and inactions, continue to treat LGBT people and people living with HIV as second-class individuals and criminals. Compounded by factors such as race and income, this discrimination can take many forms, such as harassment and violence by police or prison guards, discriminatory statements by court personnel, hostility by school security and disproportionate discipline by school administrators.

Many government and law enforcement entities still operate under policies, practices and attitudes that have historically characterized LGBTQ+ people—and in some cases, people living with HIV—as criminals.

Lambda Legal has a proud history of standing up when law enforcement officials target LGBT people and people living with HIV for abuse. Lambda Legal has challenged criminal laws directed at or disproportionately applied against members of our community, and has sought recourse when legal authorities violate the rights of LGBT people and people living with HIV. It is Lambda Legal’s hope that the findings in this survey will support other research, advocacy, litigation and policy efforts to improve the treatment of LGBT people and people living with HIV by police departments, courts, prison systems, schools, and other government agencies.