Gaming Provides a Social Outlet but Harassment Concerns Remain

LGBTQ gamers are much less likely than non-LGBTQ gamers to feel welcomed within the gaming community. Over half (52%) feel the gaming community is welcoming to people like them, but 38% sometimes feel like they don’t belong. In contrast, 59% of non-LGBTQ gamers feel welcome, and only 24% sometimes feel like they don’t belong. 

This is very likely due to harassment. 52% of LGBTQ gamers report experiencing harassment while playing online, compared to 38% of non-LGBTQ gamers. 42% of LGBTQ gamers report that they have avoided playing a game because they thought they would be harassed, and 27% have quit a game because of harassment. 

LGBTQ gamers also recount feeling more uncomfortable using voice chat in online games (61%), compared to non-LGBTQ gamers (40%). Although a greater percentage of LGBTQ gamers (62%) say experiencing harassment makes them want to play less, 40% of non-LGBTQ gamers say the same thing. And 20% of non-LGBTQ gamers have avoided playing a game if they thought they’d be harassed.

Gaming is an important social outlet for LGBTQ gamers. 71% say they have friends they can game with, and 63% wish they had more friends they could play or talk about games with. 35% of LGBTQ gamers feel that gaming is their only outlet for socializing with other people, compared to 28% of non-LGBTQ gamers.

Half (50%) of LGBTQ gamers say that they feel more accepted by the gaming community than they do where they live, and that goes up to 55% for those residents of states that have proposed or passed anti-LGBTQ legislation. Over half (51%) of LGBTQ residents of those states report feeling stress or anxiety when thinking about the level of LGBTQ acceptance around them, compared to 45% of LGBTQ gamers overall.

38% of LGBTQ gamers feel they sometimes don’t belong in the gaming community

42% of the LGTBQ gamers have reported that they avoided playing a game because they thought they would be harassed and 27% have quit a game because of harassment

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The GLAAD Studio Responsibility Index (SRI) maps the quantity, quality and diversity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) characters in films released by eight major motion picture studios during the 2019 calendar year. GLAAD researched films released by Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, STX Films, United Artists Releasing, Universal Pictures, Walt Disney Studios and Warner Bros., as well as films released by four subsidiaries of these major studios. The report is intended to serve as a road map toward increasing fair, accurate and inclusive LGBTQ representation in film.

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