10 STEPS TO UNDERSTANDING HOW RACIAL INEQUITIES AFFECT LGBTQ COMMUNITIES OF COLOR

2. Examine how racial, economic and gender disparities affect the populations served by your grantee—collect data, account for a range of variables and reflect on the particular historical context

To understand how racial disparities exist among current and potential grantees, it's essential that data be collected across issues and populations. For starters, a grantmaker could review available academic research and professional literature on racial disparities across various indicators of well-being. However, because most available research overlooks racialized outcomes on LGBTQ people of color (or prioritizes particular LGBTQ populations at the expense of others), a grantmaker might consider collecting—or funding—original research on LGBTQ people of color. Whether primary or secondary, data that identifies disparate outcomes among LGBTQ people of color is an important first step to a more thorough analysis.

According to PrYSM's original research, between 59 and 32 percent of Southeast Asian youth in the area drop out of high school; overall, 74 percent skip high school on a regular basis. Nationally, GLSEN's original research on school climate has found that large percentages of LGBT students of color hear homophobic, sexist and racist comments frequently in school. Traumatized in their educational environments, Southeast Asian LGBTQ youth come home to families where 70 percent deal with post-traumatic stress disorder and 75 percent with clinical depression. Here, the data reveals a layered series of compounding stressors.