Our new report, produced in partnership with the TransLatin@ Coalition, finds that nearly three-quarters (73%) of immigrant respondents to the LA County Trans & Nonbinary Survey—including 80% of trans Latina immigrants—live at or below the federal poverty level, compared to 44% of non-immigrant respondents.

Nearly six in ten (59%) of the surveyed trans and nonbinary immigrants reported difficulty covering regular household expenses, and half (50%) experienced food insecurity in the three months prior to the survey.

Food sufficiency among survey respondents in the last three months

In August, the Williams Institute, in partnership with Rainbow Railroad and the University Seminar for Studies on Internal Displacement, Migration, Exile, and Repatriation at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, hosted an international symposium in Mexico City, Displacement and Difference: Harnessing Research to Address LGBTQI+ Forced Migration. The event brought together researchers, policymakers, and community leaders to share new research and ideas, and to develop guiding principles for understanding and addressing forced displacement among LGBTQI+ people worldwide. Williams Institute Visting Scholar Victor Madrigal-Borloz provided opening remarks.

Each year, the Williams Institute provides seed grants to encourage and support new empirical research focused on LGBTI populations in the least developed, low- and middle-income countries and to amplify the voices of researchers in those regions. 

2021 grant recipient Kamau Wairuri, from Edinburgh Napier University, recently published his research on the policing of queer people in Kenya in Policing and Society.

Using interviews and focus group discussions with 33 police officers in Nairobi and Mombasa, his article explores police attitudes toward LGBTQ people and issues.

Please join us for a discussion of the October 7 oral arguments in Chiles v. Salazar, a case challenging Colorado's ban on conversion therapy for youth. Panelists will discuss the legal issues raised in the case and present Williams Institute research on the impact of conversion therapy on LGBTQ people.

Join us for an afternoon in Palm Springs, including a discussion on upcoming research about LGBTQ older adults and what's at stake for all LGBTQ people in the current legal and policy landscape. Hosted by Henry Jung, Mark DeAngelis, and Ryan Leaderman.

The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law is an academic research institute dedicated to conducting rigorous, independent research on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy.