Nearly half of LGBTQ+ psychiatrists have experienced hostility at work because of their identity, according to a survey.
The study by representative body the Royal College of Psychiatrists found that 48% of respondents said they had received negative treatment because of their sexuality or gender identity.
A total of 2,282 people responded to the survey, 572 of those identifying as LGBTQ+.
The amount facing abuse was higher for LGBTQ+ psychiatrists from Black, Asian and other minority backgrounds. The report found 58% saying they had experienced bullying, harassment and microaggressions.
Hostile comments or behaviours, also known as microaggressions, were the most common form of hostility. They included derogatory comments about LGBTQ+ people and other minority groups in their presence.
Two-fifths reported it to their employers, with one in 10 making a formal complaint.
Dr Pavan Joshi, who chairs the college’s rainbow special interest group, said nobody should be bullied because of their identity. “Like racism, LGBTQ+ discrimination can be subtle and disguised,” he said. “Discrimination against LGBTQ+ people will continue unless we each speak up and call it out.
“Staying silent emboldens perpetrators. Discrimination in all its forms damages mental health. It has no place in our society including the workplace.”
The report has been released a week after the government did a U-turn on including transgender people in a ban on conversion therapy.
On Sunday the prime minister’s LGBT adviser, Nick Herbert, said he was “dismayed” by the decision, and called for a royal commission on the policy. The government’s LGBTQ+ adviser Iain Anderson had already resigned after the reversal.
It had been understood that a policy to outlaw the practice would include attempts at conversion therapy for transgender people, but the government later said it would only apply to those trying to alter people’s sexuality, rather than their gender identity.
The government’s flagship LGBTQ+ conference, Safe to Be Me, has also been cancelled after organisations pulled out and Anderson accused ministers of waging a “woke war”. It had been scheduled to take place in June.
