Poverty in Gay and Lesbian Households

A few years ago the Citizens for a Responsible Whatever had a "town hall" meeting that we refer to as the Hatefest. They lined up a series of fairly well-known anti-gay speakers, and some of us attended and recorded the event. I think I speak for the rest when I say we all felt like we needed a bath afterwards. It was the ugliest event I have ever attended. CRW leaders even had to apologize in the press afterwards, the hatred was tangible, the mood of the meeting was frightening.

One speaker was Montgomery County resident Peter Sprigg, who is Vice President for Policy at the Family Research Council. He talked about the "myths about homosexuality," the point of his talk was that hateful stereotypes of gay people are in fact accurate. You can read a transcript of his talk HERE.

One thing he said was:

Uh the next myth is that homosexuals are seriously disadvantaged by discrimination in our society. If this were true it would support the notion that homosexuals are in need of special protections under the law. However, by two of the most common measures of social disadvantage, education and income, it is not true. The research shows that homosexuals actually have significantly higher levels of educational attainment than the general public while their findings on homosexual incomes are at worst mixed. Here’s uh an a study from the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management which said QUOTE In contrast to studies of anti-discrimination laws for women and ethnic minorities, we have produced no evidence that employment protections for sexual orientation directly increase average earnings for members of same-sex households. END QUOTE

A study published last week was reported in the Minnesota Independent:

A study released on Friday (PDF) by the Williams Institute at the UCLA College of Law found that gay and lesbian couples face higher rates of poverty than heterosexual married couples.

“The myth of gay and lesbian affluence is just that – a myth,” said the study’s authors. “Lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals are as likely to be poor as are heterosexuals, while gay and lesbian couple households, after adjusting for the factors that help explain poverty, are more likely to be poor than married heterosexual couple households.”

Children living in a same-sex household had poverty rates that were twice as high as those of married couples. One in five children in same-sex families was poor compared to one in ten for married families.

The poverty rate for lesbian families is 9.4 percent compared to 6.7 percent for those in married families.

Twenty-four percent of lesbians and bisexual women faced poverty compared to 19 percent of women nationally.

Gay and bisexual men had poverty rates of 15 percent compared to 13 percent of all men. Study: Same-sex couples face higher poverty rates

Some findings from the study document itself:

• After adjusting for a range of family characteristics that help explain poverty, gay and lesbian couple families are significantly more likely to be poor than are heterosexual married couple families.
  
• Notably, lesbian couples and their families are much more likely to be poor than heterosexual couples and their families.
  
• Children in gay and lesbian couple households have poverty rates twice those of children in heterosexual married couple households.
  
• Within the LGB population, several groups are much more likely to be poor than others. African American people in same-sex couples and same-sex couples who live in rural areas are much more likely to be poor than white or urban same-sex couples.
  
• While a small percentage of all families receive government cash supports intended for poor and low-income families, we find that gay and lesbian individuals and couples are more likely to receive these supports than are heterosexuals.

While the rest of us might see a pattern of discrimination, you can see that the haters should be able to spin this the other way, portraying gays and especially lesbians as a bunch of underachieving welfare-handout-grabbing losers. Whatever, the "myth" debunked by Peter Sprigg appears not so debunked.

From the Independent again:

“The social and policy context of LGB life provides many reasons to think that LGB people are at least as likely — and perhaps more likely — to experience poverty as are heterosexual people: vulnerability to employment discrimination, lack of access to marriage, higher rates of being uninsured, less family support, or family conflict over coming out,” the study concluded. “All of those situations could increase the likelihood of poverty among LGB people.”

We'll watch and see how the Family Blah Blah groups depict this study, if they mention it at all.