Read an interesting article the other day – actually, I picked it up on a blog, and then found the original source.
A new report released yesterday by the Williams Institute debunks the myth of gay affluence perpetuated by marketers and the media. They found that:
1. Gay and lesbian couple families are significantly more likely to be poor than are heterosexual married couple families.
2. Specifically, that lesbian couples and their families are much more likely to be poor than heterosexual couples and their families.
3. Children in gay and lesbian couple households have poverty rates twice those of children in heterosexual married couple households.
The authors of the report used information from the 2000 Census, the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth and the California Health Interview Surveys from 2003 and 2005.
Download a PDF of the report or read a full analysis in the Washington Blade.
I have a really annoying suspicion that we’ll see this study used to further justify right-wing idiocy. Instead of looking at this study and realizing that it shows the challenges and struggles that gay families must overcome – instead of seeing that prejudice and sexism are costing gay families vital income and stability – I fear they will use it to try to demonstrate that children will face “additional challenges” in families with same-sex parents. Let’s just hope that they don’t stoop so low.
