LGBTQ+ Economics Topics
Paper Session
Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM (CST)
- Chair: Michael Martell, Bard College
LGBTQ Homeownership in the U.S.
Abstract
Homeownership is an important measure of financial stability in the United States. Yet for many people, owning a house remains out of reach. For example, research over the past 15 years has shown that adults identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer and/or questioning (LGBTQ+) have lower homeownership rates than their straight, cisgender peers. However, there is a dearth of academic research documenting differences within this diverse group looking at the intersection of sexual orientation and gender identity. This paper reports national homeownership trends for LGBTQ+ versus non-LGBTQ+ adults, variability within the LGBTQ+ group, differences in housing equity, and the role of various sociodemographic predictors in these inequities.Legal protection has only recently been won; in 2021, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity issued a memorandum explicitly recognizing that protections against sex discrimination in the federal Fair Housing Act included sexual orientation and gender identity. Because these protections are recent, we also explore the relationship between homeownership and discrimination.
Analyses leverage three publicly available datasets: The U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS), the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey (HPS), and the Federal Reserve Board of Governor’s Survey on Household Economics and Decision-making (SHED). Each of these has unique strengths that are leveraged to form a more complete picture of LGBTQ+ homeownership. We document descriptive statistics on homeownership rates and importantly disaggregate by sexual orientation and gender identity. Results indicate that bisexual women and the group of adults identifying as transgender, nonbinary, a different identity, and/or something else were the least likely to own their homes. We also explore differences in mortgage and delinquency status, the type of housing, and the value of the home as a proxy for net worth.
Family Matters: Gender Affirmation and the Mental Health of Transgender Youth
Abstract
This paper examines the relationship between social transitions, mental health, and family support among transgender youth using data from the 2015 United States Transgender Survey. We use retrospective panel data to compare changes in mental health among transgender youth who initiate social transitions compared to those who initiate social transitions a year later. We find that social transitions are associated with a higher risk of suicide attempt and running away from home among transgender youth who live in unsupportive families, whereas supportive family environments mitigate, and in some cases, virtually eliminate these risks. Some of these disparities can be attributed to higher incidences of exposure to gender identity change efforts and to limited access to hormone therapy in unsupportive family environments, as compared to supportive ones. These results demonstrate that family support matters for the mental health of transgender youth at key life stages and that family support increases access to affirming health care.Socioeconomic Disparities in Latin America among Same-Sex and Different-Sex Couples
Abstract
Economic research on sexual minority individuals in developing countries has been constrained by the scarcity of nationally representative surveys asking about sexual orientation. Using several census data sets, we document socioeconomic disparities between households headed by different-sex and same-sex couples in Latin American countries. In addition, given the challenges associated with the size of the LGBTQ+ population, we apply small-area estimation techniques to combine censuses and household surveys to impute a welfare aggregate and estimate poverty incidence.Discussant(s)
Elliott Isaac
,
Tulane University
Patrick Button
,
Tulane University
Elisa de Weerd
,
Erasmus University Rotterdam
Laura Nettuno
,
Vanderbilt University
JEL Classifications
- J1 - Demographic Economics
- I1 - Health