While only nine percent of Americans overall plan to spend more money this holiday season over last year, more than 29 percent of LGBT Americans are going to exercise their plastic. So much for busting the myth that queers are wealthy and addicted to shopping!
Of course, the data itself is skewed: Harris Interactive and Witeck-Combs Communication polled some 2,516 Americans in early November via the Internet, which by definition assumes some level of privilege. But all that aside, not only are the queers more confident in an economic recovery, they plan on making good on their DINK status and spending up a Louis Vuitton storm.
[A] recent survey showed one-third (34%) of lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender (LGBT) adults sampled, when thinking about their household’s financial condition, continue to say that they expect it to get better in the next 6 months, compared with just 17% of heterosexual adults. This is a significant increase from March 2009 when 25% of LGBT adults expected their household’s financial condition to get better. In March a slightly higher 19% of heterosexual adults said that their situation would get better.
The new nationwide survey of 2,516 U.S. adults, (ages 18 and over), of whom 338 self identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender, was conducted online between November 2 and 11, 2009, by Harris Interactive, a global market research and consulting firm, in conjunction with Witeck-Combs Communications, Inc., a strategic public relations and marketing communications firm with special expertise in the LGBT market.
The survey also revealed that compared to what they spent last year on holiday gifts, 29% of LGBT adults plan to spend more. In comparison, only 9% of heterosexual adults plan to spend more.
And to shove it down the throats of anti-gay conservatives, the data shows we love our families and friends more than straights. Or at least we express that love with materialism:
Compared to what they spent last year on holiday gifts, 45% of LGBT adults plan to spend more on immediate family members, compared to 18% of heterosexual adults. When it comes to close friends, 31% of LGBT adults say they plan to spend more, compared to 8% of non-LGBT adults. Also, 31% of LGBT adults plan to spend more on extended family, compared to only 5% of heterosexual adults.
We’ve already selected our gift for Maggie Gallagher. What are you getting her?
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Jon B
13.5% of the adults interviewed were LGBT? Did they only conduct this survey in a major city? If not, this is clearly not a random sampling.
SteveO
“We’ve already selected our gift for Maggie Gallagher. What are you getting her?”
I hereby gift to Maggie Gallagher a one year gift subscription to ‘Fat Ugly Bitch’ magazine.
To her husband and children, I gift many, many boxes of heartfelt condolences.
Bob Witeck
Jon B, no fret about the sampling.
In the unreported methodology for the online sample of U.S. adults, we did perform an over-sample gay men and lesbians to ensure we had sufficient numbers to provide a more detailed analysis. We included that detail in the full release, which is found here:
http://www.witeckcombs.com/news/releases/20091207_harris.pdf
Although an online sample, in all forms of survey research we know there are many kinds of unintended by real biases — known and unknown — and that is why different forms of scientific weighting are applied to help reduce biases. In fact, the entire sample (like any telephone sample) is weighted by U.S. Census data to mirror the U.S. population, including by income categories. This is not an affluent skewed sample, and in fact, the LGBT segment reports slightly lower income levels than their non-LGBT counterparts.
The findings don’t indicate that gay people are wealthier than others; it was more a signal of economic confidence and desire to spend this season which caught our eye.
Cheers,
Bob Witeck
Carrie
I’m sorry, maybe I’m not understanding correctly, but doesn’t the title of this article imply that gays are not bad for families because they are more willing to spend more money on Christmas gifts than heteroes?? If this is the case, I find that silly…money has nothing to do with the amount of love in any family. And also, whether you’re gay or hetero has nothing to do with you’re effect on family…it’s how much love, caring, and time any individual puts into their family that measures their effect on it regardless of their sexual orientation.
Carrie
Let me rephrase that…it definetly has some effect on yuor family, but it shouldnt effect the love you feel for your family and that youre familu feels for you.