The “myth of gay affluence” has long haunted the queer community, even after much debunking. LGBTQ people are in fact more likely to be in poverty than non-LGBTQ ones. Now, a new study shows that LGBTQ people are also more likely to participate in public assistance programs—and are thus at particular risk when those programs are cut.
“Protecting Basic Living Standards for LGBTQ People,” by Caitlin Rooney, Charlie Whittington, and Laura E. Durso of the Center for American Progress (CAP), looked at a nationally representative sample of LGBTQ- and non-LGBTQ adults to see if they used public benefits—such as SNAP, Medicaid, unemployment, or public housing assistance—and whether disparities exist because of LGBTQ identity and other demographic factors.
Indeed they do. Nearly 21 percent of LGBTQ people and their families receive health care from Medicaid, compared to 13 percent of non-LGBTQ people and their families. And like several previous studies, this one found that LGBTQ people and their families receive help from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) at more than twice the rate of non-LGBTQ ones.
Yet many of these programs are under threat, and the LGBTQ community would be among those feeling the brunt of such changes. CAP tells us:
- LGBTQ people with disabilities and their families would be especially harmed by benefit cuts. About 41 percent of LGBTQ people with disabilities reported that they or their family received SNAP benefits, compared with 16 percent of LGBTQ people without disabilities.
- LGBTQ women in particular depend on benefits programs to make ends meet. About 26 percent of LGBTQ women receive SNAP benefits, while 9.7 percent of non-LGBTQ women do. [And because LGBTQ women are even more likely than other members of the LGBTQ community to be raising children, this is yet another way the current political climate is a threat to the youngest members of our society (though LGBTQ women have struggled with poverty even before this administration).]
- Transgender individuals and their families would also be hit hard. According to the survey, transgender people and their families are five times more likely to receive public housing assistance than cisgender people and their families.
CAP explains that among other things, Congress, state governments, and the Trump administration are attempting to cut benefits by introducing or expanding work requirements that set time limits for a person to receive benefits if they are unable to find work. Research shows, CAP says, that these requirements “hurt struggling workers and exacerbate the barriers they face to gainful employment, since it’s a lot harder to find and keep a job while going hungry or dealing with health issues.”
Additionally, because many states still do not clearly prohibit anti-LGBTQ employment discrimination (including 8 out of the 11 states with current or pending work requirements for Medicaid), CAP tells us, “work requirements would in effect punish [LGBTQ people] for facing discrimination by taking away their access to nutrition assistance, affordable health insurance, or housing assistance.”
This situation takes on even more urgency after Friday’s White House memo that essentially tells faith-based organizations who are federal contractors that they can ignore anti-discrimination employment protections if upholding them would contradict the organization’s religious beliefs.
What to do? I’ll repeat this advice through November 6:Â Register to vote. Then vote—in state and local primaries as well as the national election.