I have been digging deeper on the topic of workplace discrimination for LGBTQ workers. Decades of research document the significant gaps in earnings based on gender and race. It is important to remember that women and people of color are not the only ones who see significant disparities in earnings. Unfortunately, many LGBTQ workers receive unequal pay for equal work in the United States today
According to the Williams Institute, between 16% and 68% of LGBTQ workers, when surveyed, reported experiencing workplace discrimination. The same report 40% of heterosexual workers reported witnessing workplace discrimination against their LGBTQ colleagues.
LGBTQ workers are often treated as outsiders in heterosexual, working-class spaces. According to Goldberg (2016), higher social class status is associated with greater worker “outness”, greater access to social support, and workplaces that actively recruit or support LGBTQ workers. LGBTQ workers disproportionately experience workplace discrimination due to their actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, and/or gender expression.
According to the General Social Survey (GSS), most lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people earn no more than heterosexuals and in some instances earn less. The average gay man earns 4% to 7% less than the average heterosexual man. The average lesbian earns less than the heterosexual woman. Gay men, on average, earn approximately $10,000 more annually than lesbians.
It has also been proven that gay government employees earn 8 to 29% less than their heterosexual counterparts, indicating that discrimination in earnings in the public sector is no different than discrimination in earnings in the private sector.
These wage and income gaps help explain why LGBTQ families are more likely to live in poverty. Children being raised by same-sex couples are twice as likely to live in poverty compared to children living in households 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.
Goldberg, A. (2016). The SAGE Encyclopedia of LGBTQ Studies. SAGE Publications, 1-1396.