Can Gay and Lesbian Couples be Poor?

I know, that sounds like a silly question, right?  I mean, no one is immune from poverty.  But there is a common stereotype (and it is just that, a stereotype) that LGBT folks are far less susceptible to poverty.

Today, the Williams Institute at UCLA (the best academic center studying issues of LGBT rights and sexual orientation) has a new study out that shows just how real the issue of poverty is within the LGBT community.  Their findings?

• After adjusting for a range of family characteristics that help explain poverty, gay and lesbian
  couple families are significantly more likely to be poor than are heterosexual married couple
  families;
• Notably, lesbian couples and their families are much more likely to be poor than heterosexual
  couples and their families;
• Children in gay and lesbian couple households have poverty rates twice those of children in
  heterosexual married couple households;
• Within the LGB population, several groups are much more likely to be poor than others.  African
  American people in same-sex couples and same-sex couples who live in rural areas are much
  more likely to be poor than white or urban same-sex couples

And those are just a few of the report's detailed conclusions.  Check out the PDF of the report here -- it's well worth the read, even if you just have time to look at the executive summary.  As the report ultimately notes: "Policies that promote equal treatment of LGB people and in the workplace and in access to marriage may improve LGB family incomes and lift some families out of poverty.  Policies designed to support all low-
income people, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, minimum wage, or TANF, will be particularly
important for reducing poverty among LGB people."

There are massive implications to not recognizing marriage equality, or failing to protect discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity on a federal level.  Poverty is just one of those side effects.