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COVID & the LGBTQI Movement in 2021: Results from the Q3 2021 COVID Pulse Survey

Since the start of the pandemic, MAP has released a series of reports with data from organizations about their operations, finances, and programs. Reports released in September 2020, January 2021, June 2021, and September 2021 show the flexibility, creativity, and continued resilience of LGBTQI and allied organizations. 

This report presents the results from our third quarterly pulse survey of 2021, demonstrating the impact of COVID-19 and the uncertainty that continues to mark how these organizations provide services and support to LGBTQI people, how their staff are working, and the ways they are navigating the financial realities of the ongoing pandemic.

Early expectations in Spring 2021 were that the pandemic would begin to subside in the summer of 2021 because of widespread vaccination availability. However, in the third quarter of 2021, the Delta variant of COVID-19, which is more contagious and easily spread, brought new uncertainty about how the remainder of the year would progress. This uncertainty resulting from the Delta variant has impacted key areas of life, including travel, the return to the office for many workers, school reopenings, and the healthcare system in the United States.

As organizations prepare for the end of 2021, they continue to be resilient in the face of the Delta variant and shifting conditions. Staffing has emerged as a key issue, as the labor market has made hiring more challenging and organizations navigate policies about masking, vaccinations, and office reopenings. Financially, organizations are adjusting expectations and have more confidence about individual giving and government grants, but still have a lack of confidence around event revenue. These trends speak to the continually shifting nature of the pandemic and how nimble organizations must be.

Recommended citation: Movement Advancement Project. December 2021. COVID & the LGBTQI Movement in 2021: Results from the Q3 2021 COVID Pulse Survey. www.lgbtmap.org/2021-covid-pulse-survey-q3.  Accessed [date of access].

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The term “sexual orientation” is loosely defined as a person’s pattern of romantic or sexual attraction to people of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or more than one sex or gender. Laws that explicitly mention sexual orientation primarily protect or harm lesbian, gay, and bisexual people. That said, transgender people who are lesbian, gay or bisexual can be affected by laws that explicitly mention sexual orientation.

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“Gender identity” is a person’s deeply-felt inner sense of being male, female, or something else or in-between. “Gender expression” refers to a person’s characteristics and behaviors such as appearance, dress, mannerisms and speech patterns that can be described as masculine, feminine, or something else. Gender identity and expression are independent of sexual orientation, and transgender people may identify as heterosexual, lesbian, gay or bisexual. Laws that explicitly mention “gender identity” or “gender identity and expression” primarily protect or harm transgender people. These laws also can apply to people who are not transgender, but whose sense of gender or manner of dress does not adhere to gender stereotypes.

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