The Family - Gay Couples Now Being Counted, For The First Time

Top 20 States by Number of Gay Couples Reported in the 2000 Census

Counting the number of gays and lesbians in the United States is a difficult undertaking. By definition, gays and lesbians are categorized by their sexual orientation — they are attracted to members of the same sex. Gays and lesbians must wish to be categorized as gay or lesbian; they must, in the vernacular, "come out" of the closet. Because it is difficult to be a member of a minority, and because they sometimes experience intolerance, many gays and lesbians prefer to keep their sexual preference private. For that reason, counting gays and lesbians has been more a matter of guesswork than science for most of history.

In 2000, for the first time ever, the U.S. Bureau of the Census has made an effort to begin to collect information on same-sex couples. The count is not based on sexual orientation but rather on living arrangements. This is a breakthrough is many ways.

This initial count of gay and lesbian couples is not, of course, a count of all gays and lesbians. It is the first nationwide, full census in which couples who identified themselves as same-sex partners were left in that category instead of being arbitrarily assigned to other categories by the Bureau of Census upon compilation of the data. Gay men and lesbian women living alone or listing their living arrangements as including a roommate or friend were not, of course, included in the unmarried same-sex partner category. In fact, they would not have been identified by sexual preference whatsoever.

Now that we have collected at least some census data on same-sex partners, what do they tell us? There are at least 594,743 same-sex couples living in the United States. Gay and lesbian couples were reported in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, dispelling the notion that they live almost exclusively in New York City and San Francisco. Lesbian couples make up 49.4% of the same-sex partners counted and gay men 50.6%.

The chart on the previous page presents figures for the top 20 states. Also shown is the percentage of same-sex partners are of all households. California has the largest number of such couples (92,138). In that state they represent 0.8% of all households.

Another way of looking at the early state-by-state 2000 census data is to rank the top states by the percentage that their respective same-sex partner households represent of all households. The table to the left does just that. Any state that appears in both the chart and the table is highlighted.

The states that appear in the table and did not appear on the chart are less populous states that have a relatively high concentration of gay and lesbian couples. Even, however, where the percent of households made up of same-sex couples is highest, the District of Columbia, that percentage is small (1.48%).

It is difficult to say with any certainty whether the number of same-sex partner households is growing. The 2000 Census is the first to attempt to count these households. However, the estimates done by the Bureau, based on partial counts in previous years, suggest that gay and lesbian partner households are very much on the rise, or at least that the self identification of these couples is on the rise.

We will have far better data with which to assess trends in same-sex partner households as more years' worth of data are collected, as more accurate counts are taken, and as more same-sex partners choose to declare their partnerships to government officials.

Worth noting in any discussion of same-sex partnerships are the trends in formalizing these unions. It is interesting that in an era when marriage is commonly assumed to be on the wane,¹³ there is a growing movement within the gay and lesbian communities to formalize their unions and to benefit from the same legal obligations and privileges accorded married couples. In 2000, the state of Vermont passed a civil unions law that offers same-sex couples the right to join in a civil union, a legal status parallel to marriage for the purpose of state law.¹⁴ State civil union laws and domestic partnership laws do not, however, make those covered by the laws eligible for any of the federal protections offered married couples. These include such things as family-related social security benefits, the right to inherit, the ability to participate in the provisions of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, to name just a few.

The passage of Vermont's civil unions law sparked a wave of new legislation the following year. According to an in depth report issued by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, about half of the proposed legislation in 2001 was in support of legalizing same-sex partnerships and half designed to bar their formation under law. As the legal and political systems grapple with the desires of same-sex couples to formalize and legalize their unions, it will probably become easier to follow the demographic measures of this community.

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census. Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2000 and Unmarried-Partner Households by Sex of Partners. Census 2000 Summary File 1. Human Rights Campaign Foundation. The State of the Family, p. 13.