As the world’s perspective towards the LGBTQ community becomes more accepting, how does this shift translate into the amount of our paychecks?
According to an article published in Harvard Business Review, the “gay male earnings penalty” has all but disappeared. Beyond that, it’s evolved into a 10% premium, meaning gay men are earning “substantially more than straight men with similar education, experience, and job profiles.”
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But how could that be, exactly? Kitt Carpenter, the article’s author, points to Dan Savage’s explanation: The too-pat mantra “It Gets Better.” If discrimination towards gay men is no longer acceptable in the workplace, that explains why the “gay male earnings penalty” has all but disappeared.
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On the other hand, Carpenter finds the “It Gets Better” theory “does not seem well suited for explaining the emergence of an earnings premium (did it really get that much better?)”.
He thinks “more research is needed to understand the nature of workplace attitudes regarding sexual orientation and how these might differ between gay men and lesbians.” He argues the association between gay men and HIV could be a factor — it once had a negative connotation, but not so much anymore — or the “changing nature of family lives” that links to “the changing nature of workplace” mores:
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A gay male couple who gets married may have one partner select out of the workforce to focus on caregiving responsibilities; this might make the other partner more productive at work, resulting in relative improvements in gay men’s earnings relative to those of straight men.
Ultimately, Carpenter feels the new research raises a lot more questions than answers. The next task, he says, will be for scholars to shed further light on “differential workplace experiences of sexual minority men versus sexual minority women and highlight the strong interconnections between the spheres of work and family for LGBTQ Americans.”
The whole article, which deserves to be read in its entirety, can be found here.
Kieran
Between 2007-2009, in what is unquestionably the most blatant and inexcusable act of homophobia attached to any single person currently working in the legitimate media, NBC’s Joy Reid — who anchors a show at MSNBC but has appeared on NBC News programs like Meet the Press — authored somewhere around a dozen articles that committed two breathtaking sins…
1) Without any proof, she outed then-Republican Florida Governor Charlie Crist as gay.
2) The left-wing Reid ridiculed and demeaned Crist for being gay.
Writing for her online Reid Report, and hurling nicknames like “Miss Charlie,” the NBC News star repeatedly and mercilessly attempted to denigrate Crist over his sexuality. She even questioned his marriage: “Now that he’s married to a girl,” Reid wrote, “Charlie Crist is being sought out for all KINDS of good stuff… [The GOP] are wooing Miss Charlie to run.”
“I can just see poor Charlie on the honeymoon, ogling the male waiters and thinking to himself, ‘god, do I actually have to see her naked…?’,” Joy added.
Naturally, after getting caught by the left-wing Mediaite, Reid apologized Monday, and because her politics are “correct,’ that apology will be good enough for a mainstream media that has no scruples, decency, or integrity.
In an effort to save the vicious homophobe Reid, a cherished member of the anti-Trump “Resistance”, no one wants to discuss the full context of her monstrous behavior. #LiberalHypocrites
Kangol
You do know Queerty wrote about Charlie Crist in the past, don’t you, saying that he was in the closet. And that Queerty provided multiple links to men outing him BEFORE Joy Reid wrote about him, right? Including gay men like Andrew Sullivan and others, right?
Quote:Stories about Crist’s orientation have dogged him for years. Outrage!, the excellent documentary about closeted politicians, prominently featured Crist by interviewing an alleged ex-boyfriend. Andrew Sullivan talked to the owner of a gay bar Crist was alleged to frequent who told Sullivan point blank that Crist was gay.
A minor party candidate outed Crist when he first ran for governor in 2006. Even mainstream media types have alluded to the rumors. MSNBC’s Chuck Todd joked about Crist’s fortuitously timed engagement, hinting that it was politically motivated.
The Broward-Palm Beach Herald reported on an alleged “gay tryst” back in 2006. BEFORE Joy Reid uttered a single word about Charlie Crist. Even the conservative British Telegraph reported on the Crist gay rumors back in 2008.
You also know that we all know you got this meme from the right-wing news outlets trying to take down Joy Reid, right? It’s easily searchable, Kieran.
Kieran
@Kangol So you condone Joy Reid’s primitive homophobia? Explain why.
Alan down in Florida
And this has what to do with the salary study on which the comment was made?
Alan down in Florida
Could it possibly be that the reason for the rising salaries is that more gay men in the executive suites are acknowledging their sexuality these days which they might have avoided doing when the previous studies were done?
Juanjo
Thaks troll for the lesson is posting a red herring, here a topic completely different from the original post and then screaming your tits off about how horrible it is that some closet case was outed. Lovely bit of tu quoque tossed in for flavor by the way. It’s all total bullshit just designed to distract from the topic at hand. By the by, are you paid in rubles or dollars?
Kangol
This is an interesting study but far more research is needed. If the median premium is 10% higher, say, how does that function in relation to differing gay male populations in the US based on race, ethnicity, region, and so on? Are certain portions of the gay male population or people based in certain regions skewing things higher? But it is good news, and I hope anti-gay fanatics don’t use it as yet another weapon their war against LGBTQ people.
KaiserVonScheiss
It certainly raises more questions than it answers. Unfortunately, the original study is behind a pay wall.
Crystix
Or maybe gay men are just more skilled and able to adapt than their hetero counterparts, and now that we’re not being queer-bashed, we can finally take our throne as God intended.
Joking. Mostly.
Heywood Jablowme
In office jobs, any extra work tends to get piled on any childless person in the department. That’s just a fact.
Juanjo
True
rowa
So true!
“You don’t have kids to pick up so here’s Kathy’s work so she can leave early but still get paid for the whole shift”
Same goes for not being ‘married’ or having a partner that the directors acknowledged, everyone else gets a plus one for the Christmas party and other company events but the gay guy gets nothing.
Prax07
I see no evidence of being gay earning me more money, or anyone else I know. We barely make ends meet each week, so Bah to that study.
SiamSam
Being childless probably have more disposable income
SiamSam
I HATE the lack of an editing function after posting. Should be “Being mostly childless gay men probably have more disposable income, and quite a lot more.”
GayEGO
Personally, I never got involved in other’s wages, I worked harder than most and came up the ladder, making 6 figures when I retired. I was satisfied with my salary and got along with my peers, some of them acknowledging that I am gay and have a partner.