Abel Arias Campos, & Dr. Lindsey Trimble O’Connor
Throughout the United States the LGBTQ+ community has faced discrimination in numerous ways. There is a workplace that the LGBTQ+ community face due to their sexual orientation. There is not much research on the income differences between both gay and straight males due to their educational attainment. My research question is: Does sexual orientation have an effect on wages and does education moderate the relationship between sexual orientation and wages? My three hypotheses are: H1: I hypothesize that gay men with high levels of education will earn significantly less than straight men with high levels of education. H2: I hypothesize that gay men with moderate levels of education (Bachelor’s and jv degree) will earn a little less than straight men with moderate education. H3: I hypothesize that gay men with low levels of education will earn the same as straight men with low levels of education. I conducted a secondary analysis and analyzed the 2008-2018 The General Social Survey which provided a total of 4756 American men: 4641 straight males and 115 gay males. I estimated a Chi-Squared Test for men who have a high school or less education, Bachelor’s or jv degree (a degree lower than a Bachelor’s), and graduate degree.
The findings within these three Chi-Squares showed a significance of <.001 which is significant evidence that straight men earn more than gay men within each educational level. I estimated a Chi-Square between gay/straight males and income in which results signified <.001, showing significant evidence that straight males earn more than gay males in different jobs through educational attainment. The findings conclude that there is workplace discrimination affecting the income of gay males. This proves the decrease in income that they receive compared to straight males. My study increases knowledge towards the discrimination that the LGBTQ+ community faces.