BOSTON, MA — Pulling from over 100 individual publications, reports and surveys compiled from more than 50 leading researchers on LGBTQ issues, Our Tomorrow — a campaign to engage LGBTQ people in a national conversation about their future — today released an analysis exploring the lifecycle of LGBTQ people, as well as infographics showing both the hopes and fears and the diversity of the community.
"The Our Tomorrow campaign was launched in order for our entire community to have the opportunity to share their hopes, fears and ideas for the future," said Lee Swislow, Our Tomorrow's campaign manager. "As we move forward from this pivotal moment in our movement, it's incredibly important we fully understand who LGBTQ people are and what unique challenges and opportunities each of us face."
Those diverse sets of challenges and opportunities LGBTQ people of all ages still face took center stage last week in a feature segment on NPR's "All Things Considered". The piece profiled a recent Our Tomorrow town hall meeting held in Allentown, PA following the June 26th Supreme Court marriage ruling. During the town hall and in the piece, LGBTQ people from all walks of life shared their hopes, fears and ideas for the future. The voices ranged from a 72-year-old retired nurse concerned about issues affecting LGBT seniors to an LGBTQ supportive, local pastor concerned about basic safety concerns still faced by many LGBTQ people.
Those issues, and many more, are part of today's analysis which includes an interactive timeline, "A Look at Our Lives: From Childhood through the Golden Years", examining the lifecycle of an LGBTQ person and taking a deep-dive into the unique challenges and opportunities we face in different stages of our lives. For example:
-Growing Up: Childhood & Adolescence - "In the 1980's, 21 was the average age of coming out. Today, it's 16."
-Going to Work — "1 in 4 LGBTQ people report hearing overtly anti-LGBTQ jokes in the workplace."
-Finding Housing — "32% of LGBTQ people own their own homes, compared to 65% of their peers."
-Raising Families — "51% of LGBT adults either have children or would like to have children some day."
-Aging — "LGBTQ seniors represent a growing population. In 2011, nearly 10% of LGBTQ couples included at least one senior aged 65 or older. In 2005, that number was just 7.5%."
"The release of today's analysis provides us with an opportunity to look back on the wealth of LGBTQ research available and view the important commonalities we share, as well as the diversity of our own unique experiences, with a new perspective after the incredibly historic movement towards equality we've experienced in recent days," continued Swislow.
In addition to the lifecycle, the analysis released today also includes two infographics about the LGBTQ community, including:
-"Our Hopes and Fears" — an infographic showing the hopes and fears of the LGBTQ community based on existing public opinion research analyzed by Our Tomorrow's researchers. Can be viewed at the link: shareourtomorrow.org/our-hopes-and-fears/ .
-"The Diversity of the LGBTQ Community" — an infographic showing the diversity of the LGBTQ community across the country, including an interactive map of the number of same-sex couples living in every county across the United States that allows users to search to find their own home county. Can be viewed at the link: shareourtomorrow.org/the_diversity_of_our_community/ .
The Our Tomorrow campaign was launched in May by over 100 national, state and local LGBTQ organizations. Our Tomorrow's digital hub, www.shareourtomorrow.org, offers LGBTQ individuals and friends the opportunity to take part in an open-ended conversation about their future. Additionally, in conjunction with the launch, Our Tomorrow also released a campaign video, "Share Your Voice, Shape Our Future", featuring a diverse group of individuals sharing their hopes, fears and ideas for the future of the LGBTQ community. Can be viewed at the link: www.youtube.com/watch .
A full list of all Our Tomorrow partner organizations can be viewed at the link: www.shareourtomorrow.org/partners/ .
About Our Tomorrow
Our Tomorrow is a grassroots and digital campaign to engage LGBTQ people across the country in a conversation about their hopes, fears and ideas to inform the future of our community. LGBTQ people everywhere are invited to participate in this dialogue by going to www.shareourtomorrow.org .
The Our Tomorrow campaign can also be accessed via social media. You can find the campaign on Twitter and Instagram at @ourtmrw and via Facebook at www.facebook.com/shareourtomorrow. A collection of videos featuring inspirational stories about LGBTQ people from all walks of life can be viewed and shared on YouTube at: http://bit.ly/OurTomorrowYT
