Category: Social inequality & justice

CPPA Director M.V. Lee Badgett (economics) was at the White House today as President Barack Obama signed an executive order protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workers. In the fact sheet released to accompany the signing, the White House cited some of Badgett’s research on why workplace equality is good for business.

The White House press release noted a 2013 analysis conducted by Badgett and three of her colleagues at the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy that examined 36 research studies exploring how sexual orientation and gender identity workplace policies affect companies’ bottom lines. In short, the analysis concludes, “LGBT-supportive policies and workplace climates are linked to greater job commitment, improved workplace relationships, increased job satisfaction, and improved health outcomes among LGBT employees.”

In a lively East Room signing ceremony, Obama stepped back from the tragic world events of the last few days to celebrate gains that the LGBT community has realized over the last several years. He acknowledged the activists and advocates fighting for equal rights for everyone regardless of their sexual orientation. Thanks to all of their hard work, Obama said, “Our government will become just a little bit fairer.”

The executive order Obama signed prohibits federal contractors from discriminating against any employee or applicant because of sexual orientation or gender identity. In addition, the order bars discrimination against federal employees based on gender identity. President Bill Clinton added sexual orientation to the list of classes protected for federal employees in 1998.

Badgett is an internationally recognized authority on LGBT economic issues. In the last several months, she has presented her research on the economic impact of sexual-identity discrimination at the World Bank and at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. She was also an expert witness during California’s 2010 Proposition 8 trial, which eventually overturned the voter-backed law banning same-sex marriage in the state. Badgett’s most recent book, When Gay People Get Married: What Happens When Societies Legalize Same-Sex Marriage, addresses the core issues in marriage debates in European countries and the U.S.

“This executive order brings the LGBT community one step closer to equality,” Badgett said. “This is a great day, and I was honored to be able to witness this piece of history.”

(Photo courtesy of Lee Badgett.)

Last week’s historic Supreme Court rulings on same-sex marriage resulted in a flurry of media appearances by CPPA Director M.V. Lee Badgett, an internationally recognized expert on LGBT economic issues.

In extended television and radio interviews, as well as shorter print segments, Badgett primarily has spoken on two topics:

• The boost that legalizing same-sex marriage can provide to local businesses and state economies; and
• The profound financial impact that the Supreme Court decisions could have on legally married same-sex couples.

When the Supreme Court justices stayed the lower court’s decision on California’s Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage, they essentially re-opened the door to same-sex couples to marry in that state. On average, each couple marrying in the United States spends more than $25,000 on their wedding. And with about 37,000 same-sex couples poised to tie the knot in California over the next three years, Badgett estimates, that state is likely to experience a significant economic booster thanks to the high court’s ruling.

While the weddings themselves will provide an economic boon to states and wedding-related businesses, legally married same-sex couples will face more of a mixed bag when it comes to how their newly federally recognized unions will affect their household finances, says Badgett. For example, some couples will pay more to the IRS when filing taxes jointly than they would if they filed separately. Overall, though, when considering a lifetime of taxes, health insurance premiums and retirement payments, the overturning of the federal Defense of Marriage Act should result in tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings for married same-sex couples.

Badgett was an expert witness during the 2010 Proposition 8 trial in California and is research director at the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy. Her most recent book, When Gay People Get Married: What Happens When Societies Legalize Same-Sex Marriage, addresses the core issues in marriage debates in European countries and the U.S.

She has been interviewed about the Supreme Court decisions on The Real News Network, Bloomberg News and Southern California Public Radio; she has been quoted in articles about the economic impacts of the Supreme Court rulings in Politico, the Montreal Gazette, Today.com, Bankrate.com and CNBC.

Poverty rates among all Americans have increased during the current recession, but people in our country’s lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) communities are more likely to be poor than their heterosexual counterparts, according to a new study co-authored by CPPA Director and Economics Professor M.V. Lee Badgett.

The report, New Patterns of Poverty in the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Community, shows that women, children and African Americans are particularly vulnerable. For example, the poverty rate among African American same-sex couples is more than twice the rate of different-sex married African Americans.

This results in dramatic poverty among the children of African American same-sex couples: 52.3 percent of African American children in gay male households live in poverty — the highest poverty rate of any children in any household type. Even among all LGB couples, children of any race are more likely to be poor than their peers in different-sex households: Nearly 25 percent of children living with a male same-sex couple and 19.2 percent of children living with a female same-sex couple are in poverty, compared to 12.1 percent of children living with married different-sex couples.

“It’s always shocking to me to see these figures for kids, and the higher poverty rates for the households that have kids,” said Badgett during an NBC interview. “We do worry that it will be seen that same-sex couples aren’t good parents, aren’t fit parents, or that African-American same-sex couples aren’t good parents or fit parents. The economic situations that people find themselves in don’t reflect their fitness at being parents. It just reflects how hard it is for them to raise their kids and shows there’s a need for support, including the right to marry and to strengthen their family’s economic situation or to make it more secure by being able to tap into all the benefits that come with marriage.”

Badgett published the report through the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy, where she serves as research director. She and co-authors Laura Durso and Alyssa Schneebaum used data from four sources — the 2010 American Community Survey; the 2006-2010 National Survey of Family Growth; the 2007-2009 California Health Interview Survey; and a 2012 Gallup Daily Tracking Poll — to estimate poverty rates during the second half of last decade for different groups within the LGB population.

In addition to the dramatic poverty figures for children growing up in same-sex households, the researchers found that lesbian couples are far more likely to get food stamps than are either gay male or married heterosexual couples: 14.1 percent of lesbian couples receive that form of government assistance, compared with 7.7 percent of gay male couples and 6.5 percent of different-sex married couples.

The new study has received media attention across the United States, including interviews on NBC and NPR, and a Slate article.

M.V. Lee Badgett, director of the Center for Public Policy and Administration and an international expert on the economics of same-sex marriage, has appeared in several media outlets this week, as the U.S. Supreme Court heard two gay marriage cases.

On Bloomberg Television’s program “Bottom Line,” Badgett spoke about the economics of denying same-sex couples the right to marry. She was also quoted in this Politico article about how marriage laws have a significant impact on health insurance coverage. In addition, this Washington Post piece about taxes and government spending quotes Badgett and refers to a 2009 Williams Institute study that she co-authored.

Badgett is also research director at the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at UCLA’s School of Law. She was an expert witness during the California’s Proposition 8 trial, which examined the constitutionality of that state’s 2008 ballot initiative banning same-sex marriage.

CPPA is the hub for interdisciplinary public policy research, teaching and engagement at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.