REPORT: Gays Earn More, Owe Less

According to a study released yesterday by Prudential, gay people tend to make more and owe less that most Americans.

Respondents not only reported significantly higher annual incomes -- $61,500 compared with the national median of $50,054 -- but they also carried about $4,000 less in debt than the average American and had $6,000 more in household savings. They were even slightly more likely to have jobs in the first place, with an unemployment rate of 7% versus the national rate of 7.9%, Prudential found.

A combination of factors play into this, said Michele Meyer-Shipp, chief diversity officer at Prudential. To start, LGBT individuals are generally well-educated, with more than half of respondents receiving at least a bachelor's degree, and tend to live in higher-income areas, she said. "It flows down -- you have a higher level of education, access to higher paying jobs in areas where there are good salaries, and more disposable income to allocate to things like saving and retirement," Meyer-Shipp said.

Anti-gay groups already use the presumed relative affluence of the the LGBT community as "proof" that we do not suffer discrimination. This latest study will surely add to that claim.