Yesterday Laura Clawson posted Women earn less than men in 19 of 20 most common women's jobs and 19 of 20 most common men's jobs. Funny you should mention…
Just yesterday the Center for American Progress reviewed some meta-analysis (i.e. a study of studies) examining the earnings gap between straight people and gay and transgender people.
The common stereotype is, of course, that gay people have a lot less to spend their money on and hence are rolling in the dough re mi.
Back when Romer v Evans was before the Supreme Court, even Antonin Scalia dragged out that myth:
In that case, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia cited misused market research statistics on gay and lesbian people when he wrote that "high disposable income" gave gay people "disproportionate political power," and that Colorado voters should be permitted to rein in that power by banning anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay and bisexual residents. Scalia's dissenting opinion in the Colorado Amendment 2 case was joined by Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justice Clarence Thomas.
A common stereotype has been that same-sex couples have higher incomes than their straight counterparts and that they have no children. All Children Matter (2011) put the lie to those assumptions.
The truth is that same-sex couples earn significantly less than heterosexual couples, with an average household income of those of us raising children of $15,500…which is 20% less than the average household income of straight couples raising children. Children being raised by same-sex couples are twice as likely to be living in poverty than children living with heterosexual married parents.
Whereas 9 percent of children living with heterosexual married parents are living in poverty, 21 percent of children being raised by male same-sex couples and 20 percent of children being raised by female same-sex couples live in poverty.
As for transpeople, 15% of us report making less than $10,000 per year, so our poverty rate is four times the average of the general population. For LGBT people of color, the numbers are even more alarming:
Thirty-two percent of black male same-sex couples and 28 percent of female same-sex couples live in poverty, compared to just 13 percent of black different-sex married couples.
It's not bad enough that gay and transgender workers face high rates of discrimination in hiring and firing (9.2% of out GLB people had lost a job due to being openly GLB (
Williams Institute, 2011) and 26% of transpeople had lost a job due to being transgender or gender-variant (
NCTE, 2011), when we do get to keep our employment, on average we earn less…especially for gay men and transgender women.
The Williams Institute found in 2007, in a meta-analysis of 12 studies, that gay and bisexual men earn 10% to 32% less than similarly qualified heterosexual men, even when controlling for education, race, occupation and years of experience.
Lesbian and bisexual women, on the other hand, earn the same…and sometimes a little bit more…than similarly qualified heterosexual women. This is still, of course, quite less than both heterosexual and gay men make.
Gay government employees earn 8% to 29% less than heterosexual public workers according to 2008-2009 data.
Earnings of transwomen fell by nearly one-third after transition, while for some strange reason the earnings of transmen tended to slightly increase following transition.
Ben Barres, a female-to-male transgender neuroscientist at Stanford, found that his work was more highly valued after his gender transition. “Ben Barres gave a great seminar today,” a colleague of his reportedly said, “but then his work is much better than his sister’s.”
Dr. Barres has no sister working in the same field.
Clearly, the wage gap poses a significant threat to the health and wellness of many gay and transgender Americans and their families. In addition to discrimination in earnings, research shows that this population faces significant discrimination in hiring and firing based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.
Discrimination against these workers leaves far too many gay and transgender Americans without a job. Discrimination is also unwise from a business perspective, since it introduces significant inefficiencies and substantial costs that could have otherwise been avoided absent discriminatory workplace practices.
This is the backdrop in which the president decided that there was no need for an Executive Order barring federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity…an order which would have affected the treatment of reportedly some 20% of the LGBT workforce. Yes, ENDA (the Employment Non-Discrimination Act) would be better, but even with over 70% of the public favoring such a law, the fact that 90% of Americans think that GLBT already have such protection means this Republican Congress won't move on it any more than the last Democratic Congress did.
Until ENDA is passed, however, it will remain legal to fire, not hire, or provide unequal pay to gay and transgender workers in a majority of states. Gay and transgender workers need comprehensive federal protections, and they need them sooner rather than later.
--Crosby Burns, Center for American Progress
We can't wait, Mr. President.