A survey of over 5,000 SAG-AFTRA members has found that more than half of LBG performers report having heard directors and producers making anti-gay comments about actors.

The study, conducted by UCLA’s LGBT think-tank, the Williams Institute, surveyed 5,700 SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) members on the subject of discrimination against LGBT actors.

“We found that LGBT performers may have substantial barriers to overcome in their search for jobs,” said the authors of the study, M. V. Lee Badgett, a Williams Institute Distinguished Scholar and Director of the Center for Public Policy and Administration

Among the statistics: 53% of LGBT respondents believed that directors and producers are biased against LGBT performers in hiring, while 31% of all respondents indicating that they thought casting directors are biased against LGBT performers.

Worryingly, over half of LGB performers reported having heard directors and producers making anti-gay comments about actors.

More than (35%) one-third of those responding to the survey agreed that performers in LGB roles will be though of as LGB themselves.

While most respondents who played gay roles believed it had no impact on subsequent roles, 25% of lesbian and gay respondents and 20% of bisexuals believe it affected their later work.

Full survey results are available on SAG-AFTRA’s website.