LGBTQ Workplace Discrimination Statistics, California 2026

The federal EEOC does not publish sexual orientation or gender identity as a separate basis; since the Supreme Court's 2020 decision those charges are counted under sex. California does publish them, which makes the state tables the only official count. The survey research fills in the rest.

California complaints by year

Sexual orientation right to sue complaints rose 49 percent from 2022 to 2024 and gender identity complaints rose 50 percent. Among complaints CRD accepted for investigation, sexual orientation was cited 243 times and gender identity 117 times in 2024.

A note on how to read the CRD figures. The Civil Rights Department publishes its numbers by calendar year, and it counts a complaint under every basis it lists, so the basis rows add up to more than the number of complaints. Most California workers who go to court first ask CRD for an immediate right to sue notice rather than an investigation, so the right to sue table is the closer measure of how many people are actually pursuing a claim.

What LGBTQ workers report

The Williams Institute at UCLA surveyed 1,902 LGBTQ adults in the workforce in the summer of 2023. Almost half, 47 percent, reported experiencing discrimination or harassment at work because of sexual orientation or gender identity at some point, and 17 percent reported it within the past year. About one in five reported being fired (21 percent), and 22 percent reported sexual harassment because of their orientation or identity. One third, 33 percent, said they had left a job because of how they were treated. Transgender and nonbinary employees reported discrimination and harassment at roughly twice the rate of cisgender LGBQ employees.

The reporting gap is built in: 46 percent of LGBTQ employees said they are not open with their supervisor. A worker who is not out cannot easily complain about being treated worse for being out, and the complaint counts above should be read with that in mind.

The EEOC task force reached similar findings a decade earlier, citing surveys in which 35 percent of openly LGB workers and 50 percent of transgender workers reported harassment at work.

What the law provides in California

• Sexual orientation has been a protected characteristic under the Fair Employment and Housing Act since 2000, and gender identity and gender expression since 2004, with the regulations updated since to cover names, pronouns, restrooms, dress and grooming.
• Repeated, deliberate misgendering or deadnaming can be harassment. Employers must honor an employee's requested name and pronouns.
• Federal protection under Title VII has applied since the 2020 Supreme Court decision, but California's coverage is broader and its damages are uncapped.
• Employers with five or more employees are covered for discrimination, and every employer for harassment.

Sources

The figures on this page were taken from the following publications, as released by the agencies. Percentages, changes, sums and rates per 100,000 workers are our own arithmetic from those figures.

• California Civil Rights Department, 2024 Annual Report (complaint tables and county appendix), calcivilrights.ca.gov
• California Civil Rights Department, 2023 Annual Report, calcivilrights.ca.gov
• California Civil Rights Department, 2022 Annual Report, calcivilrights.ca.gov
• Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, LGBTQ people's experiences of workplace discrimination and harassment, 2023 survey, williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu
• EEOC, Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace, 2016 report, www.eeoc.gov

Frequently asked questions