Tag Archives: Gay Men

New Australian Report Finds Lesbians Earn up to 33% More than Heterosexual Women

A new study from Australia has identified a big differences in the average earning power of gay men and lesbians when compared to their heterosexual counterparts.

The study concluded that lesbians earn – on average – 33% more than heterosexual women. However, gay men face negative discrimination from employers when it comes to their pay.

Although, at first, such statistics may be surprising, the study mirrors similar research published last year, which concluded that lesbians earn 20% more than their heterosexual counterparts.

Also read: Apparently Lesbians Make More Money Than Gay Men and Straight People

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So why the difference? Professor Mark Wooden of the University of Melbourne’s  – who co-authored the report – said it was due LGB women working more hours. In fact an average 20% more than straight women.

The research concluded that straight women were more likely to take time off work or be employed part-time because of parenting duties.

However, the same study found that gay men were found to earn about 20 per cent less than heterosexual men due to a lower rate of earnings’ growth – and this was worse if they lived with a partner and were more open about their sexuality.

We found that the wages of gay men are growing at a much slower rate than the wages of heterosexual males. Gay males who are most likely to be observably gay by employers – those who live with a same-sex partner – face larger earnings penalties than those who are discreet about their sexuality.”

Professor Mark Wooden

The report – Sexual Identity, Earnings, and Labour Market Dynamics: New Evidence from Longitudinal Data in Australia – concluded:

Gay men are 16 per cent less likely to be employed and are substantially more likely to have several periods of joblessness than heterosexual men.”

Dr Catriona Wallace has recently launched Ventura, a Sydney-based space for businesses start-ups run by women which places an emphasis on diversity and inclusion. Commenting on the study, she told Gay Star Business that she was aware of LGBT entrepreneurs having trouble when it came to raising investment.

Although I cannot comment directly on pay disparity between gay and lesbian people in Australia – despite being a reasonably tolerant society, my observations are that it is still difficult for gay, lesbian or transgender led businesses to reach a representative number in the start-up community.

Given the traditional investment community is mostly male, this may mean that being a gay man pitching for capital may be more difficult. That being said, it’s very difficult period for women, straight or lesbian, and minority groups to raise capital in Australia. This is something we want to work on.”

In December, a similar study commissioned by the World Bank and IZA World of Labor, found that gay women get 15% more in Canada, 11% in Germany and 8% more in the UK. Gay men can expect 12%, 9% and 5% less in those respective countries.

Lesbians may be willing to make a series of career-oriented decisions, such as staying in school longer, choosing a degree that is likely to lead to a higher paying job, and working longer hours,’ and they ‘tend to self-select into male-dominated occupations that may offer higher salaries.

[On the other hand, gay men in the workplace] may upset conventional assumptions about gender, and so their contributions to the firm and their leadership abilities may not be properly evaluated and they can be overlooked for promotions.’

Dr Nick Drydakis

Steph Ello Teaches Gay Men a Thing or Two About Lesbian Slang

What do they say – men are from mars and women from venus. Well the same can be said for LGBT community, where the gay boys and girls have a totally different lingo.

Watch as YouTube vlogger, Steph Ello, catches on camera a butch of gay guys reacting to lesbian slang.

Shocking Truth – At Least 594 LGBT People Were Murdered in The Americas Between 2013-14

One of the biggest challenges facing LGBT people in the world today is the stigma that surrounds queer identities. The idea that LGBT people are less than is widely circulated and can result in some serious outcomes when left unchallenged.

That stigma is one thing that holds LGBT people back from their rights, with those in charge of the decision (whether that be voters or legislators) thinking they don’t deserve them. In other more serious cases, the belief that LGBT people are less than can lead to them being attacked or even murdered.

It’s that last statistic that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in charge of figuring out: just how many LGBT people in The Americas are harmed because of their identities? Having now released the latest batch of figures, their results are more jarring than ever.

According to their report, 594 people who were believed to have been LGBT were murdered (with a further 176 people having survived “serious attacks”) in The Americas from the beginning of 2013 to March, 2014. The Americas includes every country from Canada and the United States to Brazil, Peru and every other country in the southern continent.

The IACHR further broke those figures down, explaining that transgender women and gay men were more likely to be attacked, young people especially. And, of those transgender women, a massive 80% of them were under 35.

And it’s not just ordinary citizens who are responsible for these heinous hate crimes either but government officials are just as guilty too. IACHR revealed that “trans women and other gender non-conforming persons are often targeted by law enforcement agents, who tend to act upon prejudice and assume they are criminals.”

So what can be done? Harsher punishments for hate crimes and a larger focus on changing prejudices and opinions would be two massive stepping stones but an overhaul in reporting is also needed. The IACHR explained in their report that much of their statistics are compiled from media reports and data from activist organisations as many countries in The Americas do not report this type of crime as a hate crime (and rather, it gets reported as a standard murder). This isn’t a failure on the IACHR’s part as they can only report on what they know, but it is unfortunate that governments don’t find it necessary to report on the discrimination that their populations face.

Lesbian in a (Gay) Man’s World

There has always been this belief that lesbians and gay men don’t get on, or don’t like each other. To a certain extent I think this is still true, especially amongst some of the older community.

Some of my older male friends will tell me stories of the man-hating ‘diesel dykes’ that would cause trouble or create confrontation when a man was in ‘their bar’. I still find it quite shocking things were like this 20/30+ years ago, especially when back then everyone essentially wanted the same thing; equality.

Thankfully, the LGBT community has come on leaps and bounds and for the most part we happily mix.

I’m far from being a lesbian that hates men. I love men. I feel like I am more like one of the guys. As I’m writing this now I’m sitting with 5 guys. They’re not camp (until 5 pints anyhow). They’re men. They’re just blokes. If that makes sense.

In a way it surprises me, because growing up I never really had a positive male role model in my life. All my role models were strong women. Men cheated, ran away from their responsibilities and were generally emotionally useless. I saw men as the weaker sex. In certain ways I still do, but unless I need to ‘talk’ or cry, I still prefer their company.

I used to hang out with women more, but I always felt a little out of place. Not involved in, not understanding or simply not interested in their conversations. They’d discuss work a lot, which bored me. They were all very political. Very intense about who they’d be voting for. Whereas I really couldn’t give a flying ****.

They baked a lot. They gardened. I hate gardening. And baking.

They were all very, well, gay. Very gay rights, very active in pushing equal rights for women. I shan’t expand more on that because to be completely honest I’ve not a clue what I’m talking about. It isn’t a bad thing, not at all, it just isn’t for me. I’m clearly far from being a feminist.

But I like the ease of hanging out with the guys. I like the conversation, nothing is usually too serious, but if it does get serious, we can have a good debate. We laugh more. I feel I’m looked after. It’s like having 30 big brothers, and I guess in the same way I’m looked after like a little sister. They’re always around, between my work and social life, always on the end of the phone or 5 minutes away if I need one of them.

Love the guys, girls. And after all, it’s great having no competition.

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Gay For Pay

Gay For Pay – A Documentary That Focuses on Straight Men Who Create Gay films For Money

A trailer for Broke Straight Boys’ – a new reality show – was leaked two weeks ago and garnered over 100,000 views on YouTube. In response, the official trailer for the upcoming reality show was released ahead of schedule.

The show focuses on straight men that create explicit gay films and the multi-million dollar company that provides the platform.

Spotlighting the various people involved in this taboo and unconventional lifestyle, the show examines the dynamic relationships between Mark Erickson, owner of Broke Straight Boys, his staff, and the models. As dysfunctional a family as you will ever find, this group of colorful characters will keep viewers mesmerized at every moment.

“There are a lot of people who have a negative view of the entire gay for pay business, but these are grown adults who are capable of making their own decisions. There are plenty of positives that I believe the show will help showcase. We have gotten many guys off the streets.”

Mark Erickson

Many believe it is nothing more than a marketing tactic. Critics argue that these boys are really just conflicted gay men who are packaged to fulfil the “unattainable” straight boy fantasy. The new reality show delves deeply into the subject to answer the question once and for all.

“People don’t believe that we’re straight, but in certain circumstances, a lot of us need the money badly. Sexuality is not the issue. It’s about survival. You’ll do what it takes to provide for your family. It would take me months at a fast food restaurant to make what I do in a weekend.”

Jimmy Johnson

The series, produced by Hot Mess Productions and Loyal Productions, is currently involved in network discussions and will debut later this year.

 

Promising HIV Prevention Drug

Researchers are currently looking into a prevention drug, which could be given every one to three months as alternative to the daily pills that some people take now to cut their risk of getting HIV. The experimental drug has only been tested on monkeys, but it completely protected them from infection in two studies reported at an AIDS conference on Tuesday, 4th March.

“This is the most exciting innovation in the field of HIV prevention that I’ve heard recently, both groups are showing 100 percent protection. If it works and proves to be safe, it would allow for HIV to be prevented with periodic injections, perhaps every three months.

Dr. Robert Grant, an AIDS expert at the Gladstone Institutes.

 

A drug used to treat people with HIV, are also used to help prevent infection in people who don’t have the virus. A big study in gay men a few years ago found it could cut this risk by up to 90 percent, depending on how faithfully people take the daily pills. The new research tested something that could make this type of prevention much more practical — a long-acting experimental drug made by GlaxoSmithKline PLC.

Researchers at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention gave six monkeys shots of the drug every four weeks; six others got dummy shots. All were exposed to the virus twice a week for 11 weeks. The monkeys who got the fake treatment were readily infected “but the animals that received the long-acting drug remained protected,” said study leader Gerardo Garcia-Lerma of the CDC. The results mirror what was seen in the CDC’s early research in monkeys on Truvada, the pill that’s available for HIV prevention now.

In the second study, Chasity Andrews and others at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center at Rockefeller University in New York gave eight monkeys two shots of the drug, four weeks apart, and dummy shots to eight others. The animals were exposed to the virus weekly for eight weeks. Again, all animals given the fake treatment were quickly infected and those on the drug were all protected.

To see how long a single shot would last, they did a second study. The single shot protected 12 monkeys for about 10 weeks on average.

The dose used in a single shot corresponded to what people would get from a shot every three months, researchers said.

“This is really promising,” said Dr. Judith Currier, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, Los Angeles. The research “supports moving this forward” into human testing, she said.

Currier is on the program committee for the meeting in Boston where the studies were presented — the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections. The New York study also was published online by the journal Science.

Grant said the long-acting drug is chemically similar to certain AIDS medicines sold now that are “extremely safe, well tolerated and extremely potent.” A mid-stage trial testing the long-acting shots in people as a treatment, not a prevention, is already underway, he said.