Study finds gay men less likely to get job interviews

A study published Tuesday in The American Journal of Sociology reports that employers in the South and Midwest were much less likely to offer an interview if an applicant’s resume indicates that he is openly gay. Overall, the study found that gay applicants were 40 percent less likely to be granted an interview than their heterosexual counterparts.

András Tilcsik of Harvard University conducted the study, reports the University of Chicago Press.

For the study, Tilcsik sent two fictitious but realistic resumes to more than 1,700 entry-level, white collar job openings — positions such as managers, business and financial analysts, sales representatives, customer service representatives, and administrative assistants. The two resumes were very similar in terms of the applicant’s qualifications, but one resume for each opening mentioned that the applicant had been part of a gay organization in college.

“I chose an experience in a gay community organization that could not be easily dismissed as irrelevant to a job application,” Tilcsik writes. “Thus, instead of being just a member of a gay or lesbian campus organization, the applicant served as the elected treasurer for several semesters, managing the organization’s financial operations.”

The second resume Tilcsik sent listed experience in the “Progressive and Socialist Alliance” in place of the gay organization. Since employers are likely to associate both groups with left-leaning political views, Tilcsik could separate any “gay penalty” from the effects of political discrimination.

The results showed that applicants without the gay signal had an 11.5 percent chance of being called for an interview. However, gay applicants had only a 7.2 percent chance. That difference amounts to a 40 percent higher chance of the heterosexual applicant getting a call.

Emily Dievendorf, policy director for Equality Michigan, jumped on the study as evidence of Michigan’s need to pass amendments to the state’s civil rights law, Elliott Larsen, to include sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.

“The recent employment discrimination study should serve as a harsh wake up call to all Michiganders. Discrimination against individuals based on perceived characteristics is active and commonplace in the Midwest. Jobs are being denied or lost because a qualified and skilled worker is being judged according to whether they fit into contrived boxes identifying masculine and feminine, gay or straight. Michigan cannot afford to exclude any skilled and creative worker from the chance to help grow our economy,” she said. “In Michigan we lack employment and housing discrimination protections for sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression at the same time that we recognize the need to include protections for categories such as height and weight. Denying access to basic resources and participation based on dangerously subjective, inaccurate, and irrelevant qualifiers is a shameful and disabling offense that keeps Michigan, in particular, behind the rest of the nation.”

Legislation to amend the law passed the House Judiciary Committee last session, but Democratic leadership did not bring it up for a vote of the full House before the end of the session.