It pays to love women.

A new study finds that lesbians earn more than straight women while heterosexual men earn more than their gay counterparts.

More fuel is being added to the fiery debate about whether gay men and lesbians earn more money than heterosexuals--and what that does or doesn't say about workplace discrimination.

The latest findings may surprise you: Lesbians rake in up to 35% more than heterosexual females, while, on average, gay men earn about 14% less than straight males. But Seth Sanders, an associate professor of economics at the University of Maryland and the principal investigator for the National Institutes of Health-funded study, said gay men still have more "disposable income" than straight men. The reason, Sanders speculates, may have to do with the fact that later in life, fewer gay men are saddled with paying college tuition and other expenses that come with kids.

Gay men still take home bigger paychecks than lesbians--a fact, Sanders said, that "has everything to do with gender and nothing to do with sexual orientation."

Sanders and his colleagues from Carnegie Mellon and Syracuse universities used data from the 1990 census along with other significant social science surveys to compare gays and lesbians to heterosexuals with regard to income, family life, military service, and geography. It is the largest pool of statistics ever used for such a study, Sanders said.

The income discrepancy data was by far the most surprising. Sanders warned, however, that both anti- and pro-gay activists are on shaky ground if they try to use the findings to further their political goals. For example, he said, while pro-gay forces might be tempted to use the fact that gay men earn 14% less than straight men as evidence that gay men are discriminated against in the workplace, "you'd then have to believe the market rewards women for being lesbians, which I think is a little ridiculous."

The statistics say more about how sexual orientation affects the career choices of gay men and lesbians, Sanders said. "I think it shows lesbians, more than heterosexual women, know they must be financially responsible for themselves and their children," he said. "So they probably tend to go into traditionally male-dominated fields that are better rewarded financially."

As for gay men, he said, the income disparity may be a trade-off for careers that favor job satisfaction over the paycheck. "Because gay men are not typically responsible for wives and children, money is not as much of a career goal," he explained. "They can afford to pursue jobs that are more pleasurable."

That, Sanders said without even a trace of irony, "may help explain why more gay men are in the arts."