I recall a few years ago researching data on gay men’s income levels, and the three studies I could find were too badly conducted and contradictory to be useful. Also, the one that concluded that gay men’s income (it might’ve been disposable income) was higher was conducted by a gay marketing outfit. No conflict of interest there…
Given that for lower-income gay men and lesbians, coming out can be especially dangerous, I don’t think any reasonable generalizations can be made. Another confounding problem: gay men and lesbians who know that they aren’t going to have children may intentionally decide to accept jobs with lower incomes, even when their education or training might normally afford more. So even if we had better data, it still wouldn’t be very complete.
I don’t have much to add except that I agree that the misconception is supported by the fact that it has generally been the educated, financially independent gay people who have been more comfortable being out and open about their homosexuality- thus more “visible” than poorer gay people.
I’m really just posting because I think it should be noted that . . .
. . . Ludovic is the coolest and everyone who gets this reference is cool too!
I think monstro is on to something in the idea that while homosexuality may be evenly distributed across the classes, being out of the closet is not necessarily so.
I think a lot of it has to do with the need to stay close to the group when you are not so well-off. A person who makes minimum wage can not necessarily afford to come out: his physical well-being depends on the stability of his group. Any action an individual takes that is seen as outside of the norm by the group could be dangerous for that individual, more so than someone who could afford to buy their own house/food/transportation.
