“The general pattern for inter-group interaction is that all four white groups are most likely to contact or respond other white daters however, when interactions do occur with non-white daters, it is initiated most often by straight white men, second most often by white lesbians, third most often by gay white men and least often by straight white women.” “Our findings suggest that straight men and women differ significantly, and that more race-open preferences held by heterosexual men are similar to lesbians while gay men’s less race-open preferences are more similar to heterosexual women,” Lundquist says. Minority men are less desired by white gay men and straight women, while minority women suffer far less of a penalty from white lesbians and straight men. They found that same-race preferences are common, but when people decide to contact daters of a different race there is no clear tendency by gay or straight identity. In this study they examine the preferences of white daters their ongoing research also examines the racial preferences of non-white daters. The final sample consisted of data from 32,351 lesbians, 51,606 gay men, 405,021 straight women and 528,800 straight men taken from November 2003 to October 2010. dating websites that offers both heterosexual and same-sex dating services for millions of active users. In a study published in the upcoming issue of the journal Social Forces, UMass Amherst associate dean Jennifer Lundquist and University of Texas Austin assistant professor of sociology Ken-Hou Lin analyzed the racial characteristics of 9 million registered users and 200 million messages from one of the largest and most popular U.S. Generally, white gay men and straight women avoid non-white daters. Although it is commonly believed that gays and lesbians are more racially open-minded than straights, this appears to be true only for lesbians. – New research from a sociologist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has found that white straight men and lesbians are much more open to online interracial dating than are white gay men and straight women.