Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Is Love (Color) Blind? The Economy Of Race Among White Gay & Straight Daters, Jennifer H. Lundquist, Ken-Hou Lin

Dr. Jennifer H. Lundquist

A drawback to research on interracial couplings is that it almost exclusively studies heterosexual relationships. However, compelling new evidence from analyses using the Census shows that interracial relationships are significantly more common among the gay population. It is unclear how much of this reflects weaker racial preference or more limited dating markets. This paper brings unique individual -level data rather than couple-level data to bear on what might be driving the difference. We examine the interactions of white gay and straight online daters who have access to a large market of potential partners by modeling dyadic messaging behaviors. Results show …