Conservative legislators use the argument that gays don't need legislation because they have high salaries and therefore aren't discriminated against. The following article refutes this argument.

Certain marketing surveys are often cited to show they [gay and lesbian incomes] are higher. But these are based on samples of affluent readers of magazines which are not representative. More representative studies show that discrimination reduces gay and lesbian incomes below the average.

DEMOGRAPHICS
A reasonable estimate of gay men and lesbians in the U.S. population over 18 puts the number at 7% (Packaged Facts, 1994, p.45).

Surveys of the gay and lesbian population of the United States over the years have produced varying estimates due to the different techniques used (interviews or questionnaires, kinds of questions asked, what populations were tested, etc.). Packaged Facts utilized four different surveys made in 1993 and 1994: Janus and Janus, the Yankelovitch Monitor survey, Parade Magazine, and Sex in America. Since people are hesitant to admit to stigmatized behavior they averaged the surveys and increased the average by half.

ESTIMATES OF INCOMES
Very few surveys have attempted to estimate the incomes of gay men and lesbians. The difficulty in obtaining a truly representative or random sample is obvious.

For instance, the Simmons Market Bureau found in 1992 that the average income of gay men was $63,700. But this figure was based on inserts filled out by readers of major gay newspapers, a group likely to be better educated and more affluent than the average. An article in USA Today in 1993 estimated the average income of gay men's households at $57,000 and lesbian households at $45,000, based on 157,000 gay and lesbian couples who identified themselves on the 1990 Census. But only a small percentage of couples made this identification, and they may have been those who felt more financially secure.

On the other hand, the 1993 Yankelovitch representative survey found gay male households had average incomes of $37,400 (compared to $39,400 for heterosexuals) and lesbian households had average incomes of $34,800.

To date only one study has specifically attempted to find whether discrimination affects the incomes of gays and lesbians. Professor Lee Badgett of the School of Public Affairs at the University of Maryland reported in the July 1995 issue of the Industrial and Labor Relations Review that data from the General Social Survey of 1989-91, a national random sample survey that asked about income and sexual behavior, showed that gay men's incomes ran 11% to 27% below average and lesbians' 12% to 30% below. Professor Badgett cites a 1988 survey of 191 employers in Anchorage, Alaska, in which 27% said they would not employ gays and lesbians, 26% said they would not promote them, and 18% said they would fire them. A review of 21 non-random surveys of self-identified gays and lesbians showed that between 16% and 46% reported having experienced some discrimination in employment.

Source: From the PFLAG Cornhusker Newsletter
Original Publication Date: April 1997
Used with permission.