(Los Angeles, California) As Californians prepare to vote on a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in the state a new study shows a wide gap between the incomes of same-sex African American couples and straight black couples.

The study, by the Williams Institute at the University of California Los Angeles, found there are approximately 55,000 lesbian, gay, and bisexual black adults living in California and the state is home to 7,400 black men and women in same-sex relationships.

At 9 percent, it makes California home to the second-largest percentage of the nation’s coupled black men and women.

The study also shows that nearly 55 percent of black women and 11 percent of back men in same-sex couples in California are raising children.

But when compared to opposite-sex black families, gay families have far lower incomes.

“These analyses break stereotypes about gay, lesbian, and bisexual people, like the idea that they are all wealthy.  We find that gay and bisexual black men in California have household incomes that are 44 percent lower than their heterosexual counterparts,” said study co-author Christopher Ramos.

Black gay and bisexual men have median household incomes averaging $25,000 compared to $45,000 for their straight counterparts.

Black women in same-sex couples earn, on average, less than black men in different-sex marriages as well as black males in same-sex couples in California.

The median household income of black individuals in same-sex couples with children is $60,900, less than the $76,000 median household income of black parents in different-sex marriages, the study found.

“African-American men and women raising children in same-sex couples experience economic disadvantage compared to their different-sex married counterparts with lower household incomes and home ownership rates,” said Williams Institute Senior Research Fellow Gary Gates.

The homeownership rate of black individuals in same-sex couples raising children is 29 percent compared to 63 percent of those in different-sex marriages raising children.

Opponents of same-sex marriage who are pressing for passage of the constitutional ban on gay unions are targeting black voters who traditionally support traditional marriage.  In an election year where Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is expected to bring out a massive black vote, there are concerns those voters will support the ballot measure.

A recent poll found growing support for the amendment in California.

The SurveyUSA poll, taken for four TV stations across the state, found that 47 percent of likely voters would support the measure, known as Prop. 8, with 42 percent opposing it.