The Research and the Studies Our LGTB Community Needs

One of the problems that our awakening from being closeted and in shame, coming out and demanding a place at the table with everyone else is that we had very little information from studies that we could in a scientific way present our points.
Point that there are Millions of us. That we want what everybody else wants. I might be single and would like to stay that way but that doesn’t mean I don’t want gay marriage. I needed it to be there because that goes with the treatment that we expect. It’s equality. That’s is why Civil ceremonies were faulty and it was just cotton candy. Looked like something, but it was just air and sugar.
We appreciate people like MAP ( Movement Advancement Project).                              adamfoxie*
 
  Gideon Grudo:

They each live in a different state, but the four-person, full-time crew of the Movement Advancement Project (MAP) is responsible for collecting national data about the LGBT population — information that’s crucial.

“We’re kind of a funny organization,” said Ineke Mushovic, MAP’s executive director. “I think a lot of people think we’re bigger than we are.”

Founded in 2006 to answer the demand of advocate agencies desperately looking for national LGBT research, MAP would become a think tank for the community, working to further equality through gathering numbers.

“One of the things that a think tank can do is deep dive into the various issues that affect the LGBT community — that’s what helps the on-the-ground organizations,” Mushovic said. “We don’t have that everyday capacity that other nonprofits have. I think it strengthens the movement to have that capacity. The reality is that a lot of our organizations have a lot of constraints.”

MAP aggregates information and presents it in long form studies, easily digestible and loaded with facts. Advocates can then take this data to Washington, to the streets, or to anywhere they need it. So how does it work? Mushovic is the executive director. Then there are three others, each in charge of on of the three core areas of MAP.

“I think that what we provide is a very rigorous and comprehensive analysis that is packaged in a way that is both compelling and understandable — across a slew of area,” Mushovic said. “The long term impact of that is both that we strengthen the LGBT community — because we know what it needs and how to do that — and we also hopefully have an impact on advancing equality.”

The policy and issue analysis area is focused on LGBT families and adoption, foster care, LGBT people of color, taxes and how they affect different segments of the LGBT community, the elderly LGBT, transgender people, etc. The LGBT movement area is focused on creating national updates on the LGBT movement, analyzing the various advocate organizations and community centers, and keeping an eye on the progress in laws in various states. The messaging and communications area is focused on how the community tries to change hearts and minds of policy makers, of Americans and of the media.

Laura Deaton is MAP’s policy research director. She’s in charge of the policy and issue analysis area, and told SFGN that each report that MAP generates can take anywhere from 12 to 18 months.

“We take all of the academic research, legal precedents, laws and trends, family stories, real stories — we’re almost an aggregator and synchronizer of work that’s being done in the community and outside of it,” Deaton said. “It’s the multitude of sources that we draw from that makes us unique.”

Before the research, however, comes the brainstorming. All of the area heads get together and outline the issues they want to cover in a given year, each offering up information from their respective perspectives. Then the process for getting the research done in a timely manner is developed, and then get to work interviewing experts, sometimes close to a hundred of them for just one report.

“We’re a pretty organic organization. I like to think of us as the lean, mean, MAP machine,” Deaton said. “We’re able to bring LGBT to the table on issues that might not otherwise be there. I think that all of us realize we can’t catalyze community change unless we’re responsive to what the community needs, staying flexible and adapting.”

Naomi Goldberg spends most of her time running circles around the LGBT movement. She’s MAP’s LGBT movement and policy researcher. Her area is responsible for the National Movement Report, an annual look at the largest LGBT advocacy organizations and their capacity to bring change. Every other year, her area produces a momentum report, a look at what’s been accomplished in the last two years. The next momentum report is due around August 2013.

She was responsible for making an interactive map of laws around the country, allowing the user to see trends by state or topic. The interactive map went live in April, an upgrade from a static one that MAP showcased beforehand.

“You can visually see how many laws were around ten years ago, for example, and how many are around now,” Goldberg said. “It’s crazy to think how far we’ve come when only nine years ago, there were sodomy laws on the books.”

MAP’s latest report lends its focus to children of LGBT couple. “Securing Legal Ties for Children Living in LGBT Families: A state Strategy and Policy Guide,” took numbers from over 30 states, and checked in on discriminatory policy as it relates to kids growing up with an LGBT family. What does the report show? Three main areas of concern are apparent, according to it. These laws deny children loving families, they put children’s health at risk, and they undermine children’s security and place children in jeopardy when a parent dies or when parents’ relationships dissolve.

For more information on MAP and its pursuits, go to www.lgbtmap.org