A new study finds that overall climate and exclusionary behaviors are the biggest factors for LGBT+ scientists leaving physics.

Women and trans people are most likely to experience harassment, according to the research, which comes as physics as a discipline attempts to grapple with equity and inclusion issues.

The study’s authors found that the two biggest factors that influence a person’s decision to leave physics are the overall climate of the organization they belong to and more specifically observing exclusionary behavior.

“Nearly everybody I know who is LGBT+ in physics has left, to be honest,” says Tim Atherton, associate professor of physics at Tufts University and co-lead author of the study. “We’re talking dozens and dozens of students and faculty. I can empathize with the experiences of the study’s participants from some of my own experiences.”

“People feel shunned, excluded, and they were continually having to readjust and twist themselves to fit into the physics community,” says Ramón Barthelemy, assistant professor of physics at the University of Utah and co-lead author of the study. “LGBT+ people are inherently a part of this field. If you want physics to be a place that anyone can participate, we have to talk about these issues.”

According to the American Physical Society, 15% of early career scientists identify as LGBT+. and while a number of previous studies have explored challenges faced by physicists with regards to gender and race, this study sought to expand understanding of the impact of these barriers through a survey of the experiences of 324 people in physics across the LGBT+ spectrum. It will appear in the journal Physical Review of Physics Education Research.

The coauthors themselves come from a wide range of institutions, backgrounds, identities, and career stages and sought to understand the lives of the larger LGBT+ physicist community from their own perspectives.

LGBT+ survey participants reported observing and experiencing exclusionary behavior such as shunning, homophobia, and harassment at high rates. LGBT+ people who are also from marginalized gender, racial, and ethnic groups faced more challenges than their LGBT+ peers.

Read the full article about discrimination in the workplace against LGBT scientists by Mike Silver at Futurity.