LGBT Americans Surveyed on Experiences

A recent Pew Research Center Social & Demographic Trends report on the survey, "Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, and Transsexual (LGBT) Americans: Attitudes, Experience, and Values in Changing Times" found that the majority (92%) believe that they are more accepted in society today than in the past ten years and anticipate that their acceptance will grow over the next ten years. The survey was conducted from April 11 through 29, 2013 of a nationally representative sample (1,197 individuals) of self-identified LGBT Americans adults by landline or cell phone. 

When asked about their experience with discrimination aimed at them due to their sexual orientation or gender identity presently or in past years, the majority (58%) said that they have been subjected to slurs or jokes and 39% said that they have been rejected by a friend or family member. About one third (30%) of respondents report being threatened or physically attacked and 29% said that they have been made to feel unwelcome in a place of worship. Slightly less than one quarter (23%) of respondents report receiving poor service in a restaurant, hotel or other place of business and 21% said that they had been treated unfairly by an employer. 

themostsearched.org offers a learning module, "Age and Attitudes about the Rights of Homosexuals: A Data-Driven Learning Guide" that investigates trends in attitudes regarding the rights of homosexuals in the United States from the early 1990s through 2007.

Read more:
http://www.pewresearch.org/
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/06/13/a-survey-of-lgbt-americans/
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/files/2013/06/SDT_LGBT-Americans_06-2013.pdf
http://themostsearched.org/
http://themostsearched.org/resource/3237 

An Uneven Recovery, 2009-2011

A new report released by the Pew Research Center shows that the wealthy benefited the most from the recovery in 2009 to 2011. The wealthiest 7% saw their net-worth’s rise by 28% on average. This means that their estimated wealth rose from $2.48 million in 2009 to about $3.17 million in 2011. Unfortunately, the bottom 93% of the nation did not share in this prosperity. This group actually saw their net worth fall by about 4% from $139,896 in 2009 to $133,817 in 2011. As Pew Research Center explains, this difference between the bottom 93% and the top 7% can partly be explained by taking into account the role of stocks and bonds, which thrived during the recovery and the fact that wealthier Americans tend to invest more in both stocks and bonds. In contrast, the housing market remained in a poor condition during most of the recovery and for the bottom 93%, their home comprises the bulk share of their net worth. Not surprisingly, wealth inequality also rose during the recovery.

Pew also notes that the recent Census Bureau data indicates that the bottom 93% were also less likely to own stocks and mutual funds in 2011 than in 2009. In 2009, 16% of the less affluent directly owned stocks or mutual funds but by 2011 this figure dropped to 13%. Also, a small share of the less affluent had individual retirement accounts in 2011 than in 2009 but the number of affluent people with a 401(k) remained steady at 39% for both 2009 and 2011. A smaller share of the top 7% also owned stocks or mutual funds in 2011 than in 2009 but more owned IRA’s and had more in their 401(k) in 2011 than in 2009.

Overall, net worth per household in the U.S. in 2011 made up nearly all the ground it had lost since 2005—$338,950 versus $340,252 in 2005, the latest pre-recession data published by the Census Bureau. 

Spreading the Wealth? 2009 - 2011 Sees Gains for Top 7%

According to data recently released from the U.S Census Bureau and analyzed by the Pew Research Center, 2009 to 2011 (sometimes thought of as the first two years of the recovery) saw mean net worth gains of 28% for the top seven percent of households.  The lower 93%, however, saw net mean losses of 4%.  Putting numbers to the percentages, that accounts for 8 million households in the top seven percent and 111 million households in the bottom 93%.

According to Pew, these difference occurred owing to the changes between the stock and bond market and the housing market;  more affluent families tended to have financial holdings in the stock and bond markets, while less affluent families wealth tends to be stored in their homes.  The ensuing difference in markets let to the top seven percent of households owning 63% of the nation's aggregate wealth in 2011, which was an increase from 56% in 2009.