One in Ten: A Profile of Alaska's Lesbian & Gay Community by the volunteers of Identity, Inc. (1986)

This study reports on the results of a survey of 734 lesbian, gay, and bisexuals from throughout Alaska about a wide variety of issues, including relationships, parenthood, religion, health, coming out, discrimination, politics, leisure, needs, and attitudes.

Identity Reports: Sexual Orientation Bias in Alaska by Melissa S. Green and Jay K. Brause (1989)

This is the complete study in one file.

This research study comprises three papers: “Coming Out: Issues Surrounding Disclosure of Sexual Orientation” (Green), based primarily on data from One in 10; “Closed Doors: Sexual Orientation Bias in the Anchorage Housing and Employment Markets” (Brause), based on a randomly selected, anonymous survey of 191 employers and 178 landlords in Anchorage; and “Prima Facie: Documented Cases of Sexual Orientation Bias in Alaska” (Green), which presented 84 cases from interviews, newspaper accounts, court records, and other documents of violence, harassment, and discrimination in Alaska on the basis of actual or assumed sexual orientation from 1975 to 1987.

Covers and front matter

Front & back covers; copyright info; project staff; foreword by Janet L. Bradley, former Executive Director fo the Alaska Human Rights Commission; contents; introduction; and overview of the report

"Coming Out: Issues Surrounding Disclosure of Sexual Orientation" by Melissa S. Green (pp. 1–9)

Document includes Appendix A, "A Sampling of One in Ten Respondents' Comments on Discrimination, as Written" (pp. 81-82).

This report takes a theoretical look at the universal lesbian/gay experience of coming out, and the effects decisions about coming out to others may have on the lives of gay men and lesbians. Individuals who are open about their sexual orientation are more likely to experience negative sanctions from both family members and non-family members than are highly-closeted individuals; more closeted individuals, however, are more likely to suffer from alienation, depression, low self-esteem, and conflicts about their sexual orientation. Sanctions due to sexual orientation bias, or fear of such sanctions, may result in negative coping styles, including an increased risk for problem drinking and drug abuse.

"Closed Doors: Sexual Orientation Bias in the Anchorage Housing and Employment Markets" by Jay K. Brause (pp. 11–19)

Document includes Appendices B through D, including employer and landlord comments, questionnaires, and responses (pp. 83–95).

This paper examines the attitudes and behaviors of 191 employers and 178 landlords in Anchroage toward gay and lesbian employees and tenants. Data for this paper were collected using two 24-question, self-administered survey instruments in the winter of 1987-88. Analysis of these data shows that 31% of theh employers and 20% of the landlords would discriminate against Anchorage's gay and lesbian population in work or rental housing, respectively. A strong relationship exists between those who do not have personal association with a gay man or lesbian and those who would discriminate against gay and lesbian residents of Anchorage. The inverse of this relationship exists among those employers and landlords who have personal association with a gay man or lesbian. Appendices B, C, D, and E (in the back of Identity Reports) contain a full record of all survey questions and responses, as well as a sampling of respondent comments.

"Prima Facie: Documented Cases of Sexual Orientation Bias in Alaska" by Melissa S. Green (pp. 21–79)

If this file is too big for you, I've also got a three-file breakdown: Methodology & analysis (12.54 MB); Case index (3.42 MB); and Case summaries (40.22 MB).

This paper documetns 84 actual incidents of sexual orientation bias in Alaska, 68 from personal testimony and 16 from documentary sources. Incidents range from simple bias and employment, housing, public accomodations, and other types of discrimination to verbal abuse, harassment, threats, assault, sexual assault, and murder. For these cases: 1) the victims of sexual orientation bias were predominately gay or lesbian, but heterosexuals who were wrongly assumed to be homosexual also experienced problems; 2) repondents generally experienced sanctions specifically becuase of an agent of bias' knowledge or assumptions about a respondent's sexual orientation, or because of the respondent's relationship with a lesbian/gay-related organization, activity, or issue than for any other reason; 3) agents of bias were sometimes reluctant to name sexual orientation as their reason for acting against repondents; 4) discrimination was mostly likely to come from agencies, institutions, businesses, etc., while harassment and violence was mostly likely to come from individuals acting alone or in concert with other individuals. Discrimination cases from personal testimony were reviews by a former intake investigator with the State of Alaska Human Rights Commission; results of this review are discussed. Documentation of AIDS-related discrimination was not a goal of this study; however, the implications of AIDS hysteria upoin sexual orientation bias are briefly discussed.

"A Summary of Identity Reports: Sexual Orientation Bias in Alaska" by Jay K. Brause and Melissa S. Green (1989)

Executive summary.