Slog AM: It's Always Been Too Expensive to Be Gay - The Stranger

Contents:

• THE HIGH COST OF BEG GAY
• THE ST OF BEG GAY
• THE HIGH PRICE OF BEG A GAY COUPLE
• THE HIGH COST OF BEG GAY
• BEG GAY IS EXPENSIVE: HERE’S HOW TO TAKE PRI YOUR FANC
• SLOG AM: IT'S ALWAYS BEEN TOO EXPENSIVE TO BE GAY
• ARE GAY MEN REALLY RICH?
• BT AND WORST STAT FOR LGBTQ FOLKS? DIVI WORSENS AFTER 'DON'T SAY GAY,' REPORT SAYS

THE HIGH COST OF BEG GAY

Dpe beg fancial profsnals who had plenty of knowledge about money, they realized their "fancial troubl had roots beg LGBT, " Schneir LGBT acronym means lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr and may be lengthened to clu queer, tersex and asexual inti to the mix.

THE ST OF BEG GAY

"We both me om a time and place where wasn't OK to be gay, " Schneir says. But while longevy risk plagu much of Ameri's agg populatn, whether gay or straight, cis- or transgenr, LGBT people often need to save even more to afford their longer liv.

The more of there are helpg the LGBT muny, the easier will be for people to know that gay fancial advice is available. The bate over gay marriage has long “foced on God and Scripture, the Constutn, and equal protectn, ” said Tara Siegel Bernard and Ron Lieber The New York Tim. Lookg at factors such as health surance, Social Secury, tax, and pensns, we lculated “a uple’s lifetime st of beg gay”— the bt se for our average gay uple, st $41, 196; the worst se, $467, 562.

Fally, an analysis of the “fancial discrimatn” we gay upl face, said Andrew Sullivan The Atlantic. ” Bis, sce the ernment’s anti-gay-marriage polici “enurage gay people not to form stable, lastg relatnships, ” they also have a big societal st. “I’ve always supported gay marriage myself, ” said Wisns law profsor Ann Althoe her blog, but the Tim’ analysis mers some skepticism.

THE HIGH PRICE OF BEG A GAY COUPLE

Their average uple earns $140, 000 a year, and their analysis really appli to all unmarried upl, not jt gay upl. “Sgl are shortchanged” all the same ways that gay upl are, but they also subsidize the “perks” enjoyed by all upl, gay or straight: club memberships, vatn packag, r surance, to name a few.

Much of the bate over legalizg gay marriage has foced on God and Scripture, the Constutn and equal protectn. And for years, we’ve heard om gay upl about all the extra health, legal and other sts they bear.

So we set out to terme what they were and to e up wh a round number — a uple’s lifetime st of beg gay. We looked at benefs that routely go to married heterosexual upl but not to gay upl, like certa Social Secury payments.

THE HIGH COST OF BEG GAY

Even tax preparatn n st more, sce gay upl have to file two sets of returns.

Our goal was to create a hypothetil gay uple whose suatn would be siar to a heterosexual uple’s. We also nsired the tax the three stat that have the hight timated gay populatns — New York, California and Florida.

In our worst se, the uple’s lifetime st of beg gay was $467, 562.

BEG GAY IS EXPENSIVE: HERE’S HOW TO TAKE PRI YOUR FANC

Gay upl earng, say, $80, 000, uld have health surance sts siar to our hypothetil higher-earng uple, but they might well owe more e tax than their heterosexual unterparts.

SLOG AM: IT'S ALWAYS BEEN TOO EXPENSIVE TO BE GAY

For wealthy upl wh a lot of assets, on the other hand, the st of beg gay uld easily spiral to the lns. Nearly all the extra sts that gay upl face would be erased if the feral ernment legalized same-sex marriage. One exceptn is the st of havg blogil children, but we felt was appropriate to clu this given our goal of outlg every st gay upl cur that heterosexual upl may not.

We also ma a number of assumptns based on average sts, life spans, state of rince and gay fay is ma up of two women livg New York State a mted partnership that lasts 46 years, until the first partner di at age 81.

ARE GAY MEN REALLY RICH?

All this st the gay uple $211, 993 more than their heterosexual married unterparts, who were able to take advantage of the higher-earner’s fay verage.

BT AND WORST STAT FOR LGBTQ FOLKS? DIVI WORSENS AFTER 'DON'T SAY GAY,' REPORT SAYS

In our bt se, health verage st the gay uple $28, 595 more.

We assumed both gay partners were eligible for employer-provid verage.

In the worst se, the gay partner who earned $30, 000 uld not receive higher spoal benefs or survivor benefs om her partner’s much higher earngs rerd. In total, the gay women llected $88, 511 ls Social Secury than a siar heterosexual uple.