LGBTQ people are 2 to 3 times more likely to feel they don't belong in the Fox Cities, a new survey found
Sophia Voight
APPLETON – Transgender individuals are three times more likely than other groups to feel they don’t belong in the Fox Cites and LGBTQ people are 2.6 times more likely to feel they don’t belong, according to recent data released from Imagine Fox Cities.
“We’re watching on the news that our lives are being played with in politics,” said Josh Kilgas, a United Way Fox Cities and Rainbow Over Wisconsin member, during Imagine Fox Cities’ data release event Tuesday. “I think it’s very hard to feel a sense of belonging when you see legislatively the right to exist being taken away.”
Imagine Fox Cities, an initiative created to help people in the area thrive, released a well-being survey last year to determine who does and doesn't feel like they belong in the Fox Cities, as well as who describes themselves as thriving, struggling or suffering.
The group’s mission is to “create the conditions for everyone who calls this place home the opportunity to reach their full potential,” which it does by collecting data to communicate the community’s needs to local leaders who can make this change happen.
The 2021 well-being survey is similar to the group’s first survey released in 2019 that found racially diverse groups and the LGBTQ community are more likely to feel they don't belong in the Fox Cities.
“Our (2019) survey results found that people think it’s a friendly place, accepting place, inclusive place, except there was a significant population that didn’t feel that way,” Imagine Fox Cities co-chair Beth Flaherty told The Post-Crescent.
Kilgas said he's hopeful that initiatives to address LGBTQ people's issues are being done in the Fox Cities but "we're far from where we need to be."
The data released from the 2021 survey also found transgender individuals, members of the LGBTQ community and Black people are more likely to describe themselves as struggling than other identifying groups.
Transgender individuals are 2.03 times more likely to describe themselves as struggling than other groups, LGBTQ people are 1.49 times more likely and Black people are 1.39 times more likely.
On the other hand, white people are 1.13 times more likely to describe themselves as thriving and men are 1.11 times more likely to say they’re thriving.
Imagine Fox Cities doesn’t directly address issues that come up from the survey. Instead, the organization will reach out to local diversity and community organizations, which can use Imagine Fox Cities’ data to make their own strategic plans.
The group is hosting a webinar at 10 a.m. Thursday to show the public how to understand its well-being data.
Tuesday's data release was the first phase in a "Summer of Belonging" initiative that plans to bring Imagine Fox Cities together with local organizations and community members to address how to make everyone feel they belong in the Fox Cities.
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Sophia Voight is a government watchdog reporter for the Appleton Post-Crescent. She can be reached at svoight@postcrescent.com or 920-993-7102.