76% of Surveyed US LGBTQ Centers Report Threats or Harassment
The US research organization Movement Advancement Project (MAP) and the LGBTQ community center network CenterLink released findings from a new survey on October 15, 2026. Of the centers answering a question about anti-LGBTQ threats or harassment, 76% reported experiencing them over the previous two years. The study also examines organizations’ financial difficulties and the services they continue to provide.
According to the report’s methodology, the questionnaire was sent to 356 centers in April. A total of 175 organizations in 39 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico participated; 147 completed the entire survey. The threats question received 156 responses, which form the basis for the 76% figure. These findings describe the participating centers and cannot automatically be generalized to every LGBTQ center in the country.
The question covered a range of incidents: abusive letters and phone calls, vandalism, protests, disruption of online meetings and social media harassment. These are experiences reported by the organizations themselves. The authors link many cases to political rhetoric and programs for transgender people and young people; they say stronger security measures require additional funding.
As the MAP summary of the findings notes, participating centers collectively serve more than 29,000 people a week. Among centers answering the relevant questions, 66% directly provide physical health, mental health or anti-violence services. The authors identify limited staffing and finances as barriers to centers’ work.
Government grants go to 58% of centers responding to that question, with a reported combined value exceeding $124 million. Organizations nonetheless report difficulties accessing this funding. MAP and CenterLink recommend that individual donors, foundations and governments increase long-term support for centers. That is the researchers’ recommendation.
Individual organizations’ experiences vary. David Mariner, executive director of Sussex Pride in Delaware, told the Washington Blade about harassing calls and messages, but said his organization had not received threats of violence. Sussex Pride did not participate in the survey: Mariner said he had been unable to complete the questionnaire by the deadline.
The report is published every two years; the series began in 2008. The authors caution that participants change between editions, so the findings should not be directly compared. These data cannot establish how much the frequency of threats has risen or fallen nationwide.
Uránia previously reported on New York City’s plans to allocate about $9 million to nonprofit organizations for health care for transgender adolescents.
