The gay wage gap is the pay gap between homosexuals and heterosexuals. In the United States, men in same-sex marriages have a significantly higher median household income than opposite-sex married couples: $123,600 and $96,930, respectively.[1] Individual gay men earn 10% more than straight men with similar education, experience and job profiles,[2][3] and individual gay men who are married have a significantly higher median income than heterosexual married men.[4] Because of the gender pay gap, same-sex female couples make less than heterosexual married couples.[5] For women, same-sex married couples earn roughly the same as opposite-sex married couples, which tends to fluctuate by the year.[1][4]
Overall, same-sex married couples in the US have a 27% higher median household income than heterosexual married couples.[6] This difference is due to the higher earnings men make over women.
In the US, gay men are the least likely to live in poverty compared to any other group.
The economic advantages gay men experience in the US is most striking in poverty rates. Among married households, 2.7% of gay men live in poverty, while 4.2% of opposite-sex married couples live in poverty. Without men's salaries to account for, 5% of same-sex female couples live in poverty.[5]
US Census data has found that the wage advantages same-gender couples have over different-gender couples—being dual earners, having higher education and living in urban areas—did not benefit same-gender female couples in the way way they did male couples.[7]
Phenomenon
Kirk Snyder, professor at the USC business-school, noted that gay people are better entrepreneurs. Gay managers have a 25% higher level of employee engagement.[8] The National Transgender Discrimination Survey[9] reported, that trans people are up to four times as likely to earn less than $10,000 and twice as likely to be unemployed due to discrimination.[8] In the 2013–2015 National Health Surveys analysed by Christopher Carpenter and Samuel Eppink, they found that gay, full-time employed men made, on average, 10% more than similarly employed straight men even when controlling for various other factors.[10]
Wage discrimination by country
Netherlands
Gay men are economically advantaged in the Netherlands. Same-sex male couples have the highest combined income from work or business, the so-called primary income. Their average gross annual income is 15 thousand euros higher compared to opposite-sex couples. The incomes of lesbian and straight couples are more or less the same.[11]
Germany
Taking into account age, education, and industry, gay men earn less than heterosexuals even though they tend to be better educated than the average population.[12][13][14]
Australia
An Australian study[15] has shown that gay men earn 13% less than their straight counterparts. Meanwhile, lesbians earn 13% more than straight women. La Nauze, economist at University of Melbourne, noted: "There are grounds for concern that workers in Australia, particularly gay men, are discriminated against because of their sexual orientation."[16]
United States
A study of the 2013–15 National Health Interview Surveys found that gay, full-time employed men made, on average, 10% more than similarly employed straight men. The same study showed that lesbians received a pay premium of 9%. Bisexual men and women earned less than both gay and straight counterparts.[17]
Wage discrimination by orientation
Lesbian women
Lesbian women make a median of 1.4% more than heterosexual women, but make 25.6% less than heterosexual men.[18] Women who are between the ages of 18 and 44, 29% of bisexual women and 23% of lesbian women are experiencing poverty, compared to 21% of heterosexual women.[19] But, lesbians still earn less than the regular household income of a heterosexual couple because of the gender wage gap. As a result, lesbian couples/households are more likely to live in poverty than heterosexual couples/households.[20] Thus, gay women in relationships are disadvantaged because their income is totally composed of women's salaries.
Men earn more than women in most occupations[citation needed], and this inequality plays out regardless of sexual orientation. In fact, in Badgett's 2009 review, some studies showed that while lesbians earned more than heterosexual women, they made less than straight and gay men.
Gay men
This article or section appears to contradict itselfon whether the pay gap is positive or negative. Please see the talk page for more information.(January 2020)
Until recently it was thought that gay men made a median of 18.4% less than compared to straight men.[18] A recent study has showed that in the US full-time employed Gay men now earn 10% more than their heterosexual counterparts.[21] 20% of gay men and 25% of bisexual men between the ages of 18 and 44 live in or below the poverty level, unlike the 15% of heterosexual men who are not.[19]
Transgender individuals
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The highest pay gap is for trans women, since they receive $0.60 for every $1 a straight cisgender man receives.[22] However, the pay gap for trans men is a bit lower since they receive $0.70 for every $1 a straight cisgender man gets.[22] This gives us proof that gender influences wages.
Transgender adults are nearly 4 times as likely to have a household income of under $10,000 per year.[19]
↑ Grant, Jaime M. "Injustice at Every Turn"(PDF). National Transgender Discrimination Survey. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2015-05-06. Retrieved 2017-08-31.
↑ Carpenter, Christopher S.; Eppink, Samuel T. (2017). "Does It Get Better? Recent Estimates of Sexual Orientation and Earnings in the United States". Southern Economic Journal. 84 (2): 426–441. doi:10.1002/soej.12233.
The LGBT community is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals united by a common culture and social movements. These communities generally celebrate pride, diversity, individuality, and sexuality. LGBT activists and sociologists see LGBT community-building as a counterweight to heterosexism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, sexualism, and conformist pressures that exist in the larger society. The term pride or sometimes gay pride expresses the LGBT community's identity and collective strength; pride parades provide both a prime example of the use and a demonstration of the general meaning of the term. The LGBT community is diverse in political affiliation. Not all people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender consider themselves part of the LGBT community.
Heterosexism is a system of attitudes, bias, and discrimination in favor of heterosexuality and heterosexual relationships. According to Elizabeth Cramer, it can include the belief that all people are or should be heterosexual and that heterosexual relationships are the only norm and therefore superior.
The field of psychology has extensively studied homosexuality as a human sexual orientation. The American Psychiatric Association listed homosexuality in the DSM-I in 1952, but that classification came under scrutiny in research funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. That research and subsequent studies consistently failed to produce any empirical or scientific basis for regarding homosexuality as anything other than a natural and normal sexual orientation that is a healthy and positive expression of human sexuality. As a result of this scientific research, the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the DSM-II in 1973. Upon a thorough review of the scientific data, the American Psychological Association followed in 1975 and also called on all mental health professionals to take the lead in "removing the stigma of mental illness that has long been associated" with homosexuality. In 1993, the National Association of Social Workers adopted the same position as the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association, in recognition of scientific evidence. The World Health Organization, which listed homosexuality in the ICD-9 in 1977, removed homosexuality from the ICD-10 which was endorsed by the 43rd World Health Assembly on 17 May 1990.
Achievement gaps in the United States are observed, persistent disparities in measures of educational performance among subgroups of U.S. students, especially groups defined by socioeconomic status (SES), race/ethnicity and gender. The achievement gap can be observed through a variety of measures, including standardized test scores, grade point average, dropout rates, college enrollment, and college completion rates. The gap in achievement between lower income students and higher income students exists in all nations and it has been studied extensively in the U.S. and other countries, including the U.K. Various other gaps between groups exist around the globe as well.
Obtaining precise numbers on the demographics of sexual orientation is difficult for a variety of reasons, including the nature of the research questions. Most of the studies on sexual orientation rely on self-reported data, which may pose challenges to researchers because of the subject matter's sensitivity. The studies tend to pose two sets of questions. One set examines self-report data of same-sex sexual experiences and attractions, while the other set examines self-report data of personal identification as homosexual or bisexual. Overall, fewer research subjects identify as homosexual or bisexual than report having had sexual experiences or attraction to a person of the same sex. Survey type, questions and survey setting may affect the respondents' answers.
Lesbian bed death is the concept that lesbian couples in committed relationships have less sex than any other type of couple the longer the relationship lasts, and generally experience less sexual intimacy as a consequence. It may also be defined as a drop-off in sexual activity two years into a long-term lesbian relationship.
Bisexual erasure, also called bisexual invisibility, is the tendency to ignore, remove, falsify, or re-explain evidence of bisexuality in history, academia, the news media, and other primary sources.
LGBT parenting refers to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people raising one or more children as parents or foster care parents. This includes: children raised by same-sex couples, children raised by single LGBT parents, and children raised by an opposite-sex couple where at least one partner is LGBT.
The extension of civil marriage, union, and domestic partnership rights to same-sex couples in various jurisdictions can raise legal issues upon dissolution of these unions that are not experienced by opposite-sex couples, especially if law of their residence or nationality does not have same-sex marriage or partnerships.
A mixed-orientation marriage is a marriage between partners of differing sexual orientations. The broader term is mixed-orientation relationship, sometimes shortened to MOR or MORE.
A same-sex relationship is a romantic or sexual relationship between people of the same sex. Same-sex marriage refers to the institutionalized recognition of such relationships in the form of a marriage; civil unions may exist in countries where same-sex marriage does not.
Various topics in medicine relate particularly to the health of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual (LGBTQIA) individuals as well as other sexual and gender minorities. According to the US National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center, these areas include sexual and reproductive health, mental health, substance use disorders, HIV/AIDS, HIV-related cancers, intimate partner violence, issues surrounding marriage and family recognition, breast and cervical cancer, inequities in healthcare and access to care. In medicine, various nomenclature, including variants of the acronym LGBTQIA+, are used as an umbrella term to refer to individuals who are non-heterosexual, non-heteroromantic, or non-cis gendered. Specific groups within this community have their own distinct health concerns, however are often grouped together in research and discussions. This is primarily because these sexual and gender minorities groups share the effects of stigmatization based on their gender identity or expression, and/or sexual orientation or affection orientation. Furthermore there are subpopulations among LGBTQIA+ groups based on factors such as race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, geographic location, and age, all of which can impact healthcare outcomes.
Concerns regarding same-sex marriage and the family are at the forefront of the controversies over legalization of same-sex marriage. In the United States, an estimated 1 million to 9 million children have at least one LGBT parent. Concern for these children and others to come are the basis for both opposition to and support for marriage for LGBT couples.
The demographics of sexual orientation and gender identity in the United States have been studied in the social sciences in recent decades. A 2022 Gallup poll concluded that 7.1% of adult Americans identified as LGBT. A different survey in 2016, from the Williams Institute, estimated that 0.6% of U.S. adults identify as transgender. As of 2022, estimates for the total percentage of U.S. adults that are transgender or nonbinary range from 0.5% to 1.6%. Additionally, a Pew Research survey from 2022 found that approximately 5% of young adults in the U.S. say their gender is different from their sex assigned at birth.
Until 2017, laws related to LGBTQ+ couples adopting children varied by state. Some states granted full adoption rights to same-sex couples, while others banned same-sex adoption or only allowed one partner in a same-sex relationship to adopt the biological child of the other. Despite these rulings, same-sex couples and members of the LGBTQ+ community still face discrimination when attempting to foster children.
Gender inequality in the United States has been diminishing throughout its history and significant advancements towards equality have been made beginning mostly in the early 1900s. However, despite this progress, gender inequality in the United States continues to persist in many forms, including the disparity in women's political representation and participation, occupational segregation, and the unequal distribution of household labor. The alleviation of gender inequality has been the goal of several major pieces of legislation since 1920 and continues to the present day. As of 2021, the World Economic Forum ranks the United States 30th in terms of gender equality out of 149 countries.
The gender pay gap or gender wage gap is the average difference between the remuneration for men and women who are working. Women are generally found to be paid less than men. There are two distinct numbers regarding the pay gap: non-adjusted versus adjusted pay gap. The latter typically takes into account differences in hours worked, occupations chosen, education and job experience. In the United States, for example, the non-adjusted average woman's annual salary is 79–83% of the average man's salary, compared to 95–99% for the adjusted average salary.
Domestic violence within lesbian relationships is the pattern of violent and coercive behavior in a female same-sex relationship wherein a lesbian or other non-heterosexual woman seeks to control the thoughts, beliefs, or conduct of her female intimate partner. In the case of multiple forms of domestic partner abuse, it is also referred to as lesbian battering.
Gender roles in non-heterosexual communities are a topic of much debate; some people believe traditional, heterosexual gender roles are often erroneously enforced on non-heterosexual relationships by means of heteronormative culture and attitudes towards these non-conformative relationships.
The African-American LGBT community, otherwise referred to as the Black American LGBT community, is part of the overall LGBT culture and overall African-American culture. The initialism LGBT stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender.
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