A massive UK survey of more than 645,000 working age adults which included more than 6,000 respondents who identified as gay, lesbian, or bisexual has revealed there is a real “glass ceiling” for gay men in business environments which is even worse for those who are minorities.

The Washington Post reports: “Gay men are far more likely (7.9 percentage points, to be exact) to be stuck in low-level management jobs at the bottom of the organization chart or at smaller, less prestigious organizations — the shift manager at a retail store, for example. They're significantly less likely (2.2 percentage points) than straight men to be high-level managers — the people who run trading floors and manage entire regions…Gay men of color are hit hardest. They face an even worse disparity than you'd expect based on adding the gap for gay men to that for men from racial minorities.”

Additionally, “gay men typically don't get as far as straight men with similar skills and qualifications, the analysis shows. Seventy percent of gay men in top management positions have a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to just 57 percent of straight men.”

The UK Integrated Household Survey from 2009 to 2014 asked detailed questions about sexual orientation and management responsibility – and results regarding women and minorities that came out similarly to studies done in the U.S. with women and minorities lead researchers to believe that the results regarding gay people would come out similarly here as well.

Write the researchers: “The researchers also find that the majority of the difference is due to differential returns to observed characteristics and skills (such as education) as opposed to differential endowments. That is, the evidence is most consistent with discrimination explaining differential access to top managerial positions. They further show that women and non-white men are disadvantaged in attaining high-level managerial posts: they too face glass ceilings.”

Download the study HERE.