gay men were ranked on their own they would have by far the highest college completion rate in the world. ranks 9th in the world in terms of the percentage of the adult population with a bachelor’s degree, if U.S. have a doctorate, for example, 50% more than among straight men.Īnd while the U.S. Gay men have “strikingly high” levels of attainment, surpassing all other groups across every level of education, says Mittleman.Īnd this holds true among White, Black, Hispanic and Asian men.Īround six per cent of gay men in the U.S. The disappearance of this relative advantage reflects not just straight women’s increasing attainment, but also lesbian women’s declining levels of achievement, according to researcher Joel Mittleman, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana.Īs a result, among recent cohorts lesbian students get worse grades, are more likely to drop out of high school and are less likely to get a bachelor’s degree than straight women.īut sexuality has the opposite effect for men, where gay students have remarkably high levels of academic attainment and significantly outperform straight men. What advantage lesbian women had in the past was also concentrated among white lesbians. Historically, lesbian students outperformed straight women, but this advantage has declined over time and is entirely absent in recent cohorts.
