The Williams Institute

This report uses data on same-sex couples in the 2012 American Community Survey to assess the impact on LGB and heterosexual poverty rates of several types of hypothetical changes: one that reduces the gender wage gap between men and women, one that reduces the wage gaps for people of color (the gap between white and black workers and the gap between Hispanic and non-Hispanic workers), and one that reduces the wage gap for gay and bisexual men compared with heterosexual men. These changes could come from new policies designed to address wage gaps, such as reductions in the gender wage gap resulting from a policy of paid family leave, or through more stringent enforcement of new or existing nondiscrimination laws.