LGBT Americans are poorer than straight people, new study finds
The study discovered that lesbian and bisexual women experienced the worst financial difficulties.
A new study has found that American LGBT people are far more likely to be poor than straight people.
Published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, the study discovered LGBT people were less likely to own their house compared to their heterosexual counterparts.
Lesbian and bisexual women were found to be less likely to graduate than straight women and would go on to earn less money too. Meanwhile, gay and bisexual men were more likely to graduate than straight people but were still found to earn less and experience more financial difficulty than straight men.
In addition to that, the study found that lesbian and bisexual women were more likely to live on the poverty line with many receiving welfare payments or food stamps and reported feeling that they had a lower social status than straight people.
The study followed 14,000 young LGBT and straight people who were in seventh through 12th grades in 1994 through to 2008 and 2009.
Authors of the report have suggested that the US could reduce the inequality LGBT woman face by “promoting the achievement of sexual minority girls and young women.”
They also stated that their finding that gay and bisexual men were more likely to graduate was surprising because LGBT men have higher report rates of school harassment.