Let’s Talk About the LGBTQIA+ Pay Gap

We know that LGBTQIA+ people experience higher rates of discrimination and harassment in the workplace. We also know that the pay gap widens when race, sexuality and gender identity are combined creating huge differences in these pay gaps across identities. Unfortunately, the data just doesn’t exist for much of the LGBTQIA+ because the information just isn’t collected.

9to5 has long worked to end the pay gap, the persistent pay disparities that women – especially women of color – and queer people face. The pay gap adds up over a lifetime costing workers thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars and economic stability. The pay gap is a result of systematic racism, classism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia and taking action together is the most powerful tool we have to fight inequity.

Closing the pay gap means facing the issue head on: having taboo conversations about money with our coworkers and working together to make sure everyone is paid fairly regardless of who they are and what they look like.

Make sure you stay up to date with 9to5 and equal pay!

The Facts

On average, LGBTQIA+ workers earn about 90 cents for every dollar the typical worker earns, but we know that when race and identity are considered, that number changes dramatically.

By Race

By Gender Identity

Take Action

Sign the Petition

The Equality Act would ensure that LGBTQIA+ people could never, in any state, be denied basic freedoms. In 29 states people can be denied service in restaurants or hair salons, denied home loans or turned down from rental properties, or denied medical care just for how they identify. In many states it is still legal to discriminate against someone for being LGBTQIA+ in the workplace. Learn more about the Equality Act here.

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I’m taking action with @9to5org to close the #PayGap for LGBTQ+ workers by demanding that Congress pass the #EqualityAct. Join me at 9to5.org/LGBTQ-EP

The #EqualityAct makes sure all LGBTQIA+ people have basic freedoms- like rights to housing, medical care, & access to services. I’m taking action with @9to5org at 9to5.org/LGBTQ-EP

I’m standing with @9to5org to close the #PayGap for LGBTQIA+ workers who earn 90¢ for every dollar a white man makes, but that’s not the whole story. Learn more at 9to5.org/LGBTQ-EP

LGBTQ+ workers experience higher rates of discrimination and harassment in the workplace and the pay gap widens when race, sexuality, and gender identity are combined, creating huge differences in the #PayGap. Learn more from @9to5org at 9to5.org/LGBTQ-EP

Pay disparities across the LGBTQIA+ community vary based on identity and race with trans women making just 60¢ for every dollar the typical earner makes, or native LGBTQ+ workers making just 70¢. Learn more about LGBTQ+ #EqualPay at 9to5.org/LGBTQ-EP

Learn More

For many years, organizations such as the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Transgender Law Center, GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), the National LGBTQ Task Force, and many others have been fighting to secure equal treatment of LGBTQ people in the workplace through litigation, policy, and legislation.

On LGBTQ+ Equal Pay Day, the U.S. still doesn’t know the size of the wage gap (2021) 

Take a deep dive into Equal Pay in the LGBTQ+ community and how the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Key Takeaways: 

• The United States has never captured how many cents on the white male dollar LGBTQIA+ people earn on average, a decision that has buried the experiences of queer Americans and prevented meaningful policy to address disparities.
• Like Black women, Latinas and all other marginalized groups, LGBTQIA+ people encounter unique experiences in the American workforce that put them at a disadvantage economically.
• People at the intersections of race and gender suffer deeply, more so than their white counterparts. That is also true for LGBTQIA+ people, and particularly transgender people.”
• Poverty rates for queer people are higher than the general population, a result of discrimination, underpay, and other practices that have made it more difficult for LGBTQIA+ people to buy homes, for example, and build wealth.
• 1 in 5 LGBTQIA+ workers earned less than $25,000 a year in 2019, 1.5 times the rate of non-LGBTQ+ households. (Report)

The Reality Flag (Human Rights Campaign) 

Video embed: https://youtu.be/_QCjcYMgeUk  

Learn more about the Equality Act and how LGBTQIA+ people can be refused service, housing, or medical care. Be sure to check out the interactive map to see if your state provides any protections on employment, education, or housing.  

Protect everyone from discrimination with the Equality Act 

The Equality Act is federal legislation that would modernize our nation’s civil rights laws by including explicit protections for LGBTQIA+ people, as well as improving protections for women, people of color, and people of all faiths. The Equality Act ensures everyone in America, including LGBTQIA+ people, are protected from harassment and discrimination – bringing us closer to Freedom and Opportunity for All. 

Those dollars and cents add up: Full-time trans workers face a wage gap, poll finds (2022)

Trans and gender-nonconforming people are among the lowest paid LGBTQIA+ full-time workers in the United States, a new snapshot poll shows.

Key Takeaways: 

• Trans men and nonbinary or gender-nonconforming people earn 70 cents for every dollar the typical worker earns, while trans women earn 60 cents to that dollar, based on responses from roughly 6,800 LGBTQIA+ workers last spring.
• Trans people experience widespread unemployment and poverty at higher rates compared to the rest of the U.S. population. Even if a trans person does get a job outside of the underground economy, discrimination can still take its toll and stunt economic advancement. 
• Researchers should be focused on what kind of wage gap trans women of color experience in the United States… Researchers also need to account for underground economies and sex work in order to gain a full picture of the economic disparities that most sharply harm trans women of color. 

More Reading: 

Human Rights Campaign Foundation Releases New Data on the LGBTQ+ Wage Gap (2022)

Equal Pay is an LGBT Issue 

Transgender Women Are Left Out of Equal Pay Day as No Data Exists to Capture Scope of the Problem (2022)

What Does the Gay Wage Gap Mean for LGBTQ+ Families? (2021) 

Lgbt Workers of Color Are Among the Most Disadvantaged in the U.S. Workforce

Employer Practices

What should employers do to promote pay equity?

• Include employment nondiscrimination policy that includes both “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” across all operations.
• Institute transparency policies regarding pay which are an important pathway to identification of pay inequalities.
• Ensure benefits packages are inclusive of both legal spouses and domestic partners, to prevent inequalities in benefit offerings.
• Do an annual assessment of collected pay data by sexual orientation, gender, and gender identity to ensure that your company is using the data to drive decision-making (e.g., formulation of leadership development programs and other policy development to combat the wage gap).

(Source)