It takes love—and often money—to make a family. A new report looks at the financial experiences of LGBTQ people in the United States, including ones related to starting families and securing legal parental rights. Let’s dig into it!
“The LGBTQI+ Economic and Financial (LEAF) Survey” from the Center for LGBTQ Economic Advancement & Research (CLEAR) and Movement Advancement Project (MAP), surveyed 2,505 LGBTQI+ adults, plus 503 straight, cisgender adults, in all 50 states plus Washington, DC. Respondents were diverse across geography, sexual orientation, gender and gender identity, race, ethnicity, age, education, and other demographics. (Further details are in the report, for those who want them.)
Although the study looked at a host of financial matters, let’s focus on the parenting-specific findings.
The Costs of Forming a Family
Among LGBTQI+ respondents, 36% were parents or have been primary guardians for at least one child. In a figure that might surprise some people, 78% had their children through biological birth without fertility treatments. The report says this is in line with previous research showing that many LGBTQI+ parents had children in previous, different-sex relationships and that many bi people in different-sex relationships are raising kids. (Among the LGBTQI+ respondents, 55% were bi, in line with the overall percentage of bi folks across the U.S.) I’d add that although those were the dominant factors contributing to the 78% figure, trans folks may also have had their children without fertility treatments in relationships where that was possible—and also that some LGBTQI+ folks even in same-sex relationships may have inseminated at home with a known donor and not used fertility treatments. (And of course, conversely, even folks in theoretically interfertile relationships may still need fertility treatments.)
The study also found that:
- Six in ten LGBTQI+ parents (57%) reported out-of-pocket healthcare costs related to family formation:
- 43% of LGBTQI+ parents had spent $1,000+ on out-of-pocket healthcare costs for family formation.
- Nearly a third (32%) had spent $5,000+.
- 3% spent $50,000 or more.
Yes, starting a queer family can be pricey, although I’ll note that less expensive options exist, such as at-home insemination with a known donor or public adoption. Any path to parenthood has pros and cons, however; for more details, check out some of the recent guides for LGBTQ prospective parents. For more on the specifics costs of different options, see this post.
Almost one in five (18%) LGBTQI+ respondents said they were not parents but wanted to be. Among those, 43% expected to use biological birth without fertility treatment, 30% said they expected to adopt, and 12% said biological birth with fertility treatments. And while LGBTQI+ respondents overall were most likely to say that their top financial priorities were paying bills on time, reducing debt, and improving their credit scores, 22% said saving for adoption, fertility, or conception-related costs was an important or top priority and 26% said saving for children or child’s college fund was.
The Costs of Protecting Our Families
The study found that four in ten parents (40%) reported having some out-of-pocket legal costs related to family formation. Taking additional and often expensive legal steps to secure our parentage is an unfortunate necessity for same-sex parents at this point in time (although some states are streamlining things and making this cheaper).
Given that we do have to take extra legal steps to secure our parentage, I’m not sure if the 40% is a good number, indicating that many same-sex couples are taking these unfortunately necessary steps, or a low number, indicating that many more should be doing so. (And again, some LGBTQI+ folks may be in different-sex relationships or had their children in them, and may not need to take these steps.) Regardless, legal expenses are clearly a factor for a significant number of LGBTQI+ parents.
The Bigger Picture
Financial difficulties and stresses of any kind can have an impact on LGBTQI+ people’s ability to start or raise a family, so I also want to note some general findings from the study. LGBTQI+ respondents reported far lower annual household incomes than adults nationwide, which should be unsurprising to anyone familiar with past research on the subject.
Compared with non-LGBTQI+ respondents, too, about twice as many LGBTQI+ respondents reported feeling “anxious, overwhelmed, and depressed about their finances,”
and one in ten (11%) said they had experienced discrimination in banking or financial services.
Many LGBTQI+ people also said they lost the ability to rely financially on their families after coming out. While 73% of said they could do so before coming out, only 62% said they could afterwards. For transgender people, the numbers fell from 85% to 57%.
Moving Forward
The report offers many recommendations for addressing the economic disparities and unique financial challenges of LGBTQI+ people. On the policy level, it says, we should:
- Pass the Equality Act, which extends sexual orientation and gender identity nondiscrimination protections to employment, housing, public accommodations, public education, foster care, adoption, and more.
- Support inclusive definitions of family and expanded paid family leave measures.
- Remove discriminatory health insurance policies related to family formation, such as definitions of requirements about infertility that can effectively exclude LGBTQI+ people from coverage eligibility.
Additionally, it says, financial services providers should develop policies to improve LGBTQI+ competency and end discrimination and bias within their companies. Nonprofit organizations should expand financial support for LGBTQI+ people, to help with family formation and other needs, and expand legal services and counseling to assist LGBTQI+ people with their financial concerns.
The authors caution that the study used a non-representative unweighted sample, and the findings “are not necessarily generalizable to the entire U.S. LGBTQI+ community, nor have differences between the groups been tested for statistical significance.” The results are still important, they say, “as they help to shed light on the experiences of LGBTQI+ people, particularly given the broader lack of data about LGBTQI+ people.”
I encourage you to read the whole report, which goes into further details on a host of financial topics I haven’t covered here. There’s clearly a lot more work to be done for a full picture of these matters, but this report helpfully sheds some light.