According to a recent study from UCLA, same-sex lovers are more likely than straight couples to be exposed to the negative effects of climate change.
These results include “wildfires, storms, smoke-filled clouds, and drought, ” according to a statement from KQED.
Same-sex couples proportionally reside in coastal areas and towns, which are more prone to natural disasters. They’re even more possible “to live in areas with poor system, worse-built environments. ”
Washington DC, which rates high for “climate risks ” such as heat waves, floods, and “dangerously strong winds, ” has the greatest proportion of gay couples in the U. S.
San Francisco comes in second place, and it also faces a higher risk of climate change. According to KQED statement, the town ’s Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District flooded 22 years ago, “swamping ” the entire area. The closest mall, Rainbow Grocery, even got flooded.
Ari Shaw, chairman of International Programs at UCLA’s School of Law’s Williams Institute who specializes in “international human right, LGBTI elections, and U. S. foreign policy, ” noted the investigation “cuts against the narrative” that LGBT people “have access to all the tools that they need. ”
Less: UCLA law prof: ‘Hi-tech bourgeois options’ for climate change are bigoted
From the history:
Because of the U.S., Shaw claimed his staff considered same-sex people. S. Census collects data on same-sex cohabitating homes, but it does n’t generally collect information on gender or sexual orientation.
This review helps to highlight what is likely to be a much bigger and more complex image, he said. Our findings perhaps understate the full scope of LGBTQ people’s impacts due to climate change. ”
According to UC Irvine anthropology professor Michael Méndez, the new research advances understanding of who is at risk of climate disasters. He has previously examined how gay communities are frequently omitted from devastation planning.
“The needles is moving slowly, ” Méndez said. “These tragedies are not happening in confinement. If an individual is feeling prejudice, or a lack of security in their house and a disaster happens, they may experience even more defenseless. ”
But what Méndez said the investigation does n’t show is who the same-sex people are in terms of hatred, money and their positions in society.
Among some recommendations, Shaw and research co-author Lindsay Mahowald say climate disaster relief may be “administered without discrimination on the basis of physical orientation, gender identity, or gender expression, ” and that potential studies like the U. S. Measures of sexual orientation and identity personality had to be included in the population. ”
MORE: Dartmouth study: ‘ Hundreds more ’ major league home runs by 2100 due to climate change
IMAGE: U. Buffalo Sustainability/X
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