For the first time, the Census Bureau has released data in which same-sex couples who refer to one another as “husband” or “wife” are differentiated from those who refer to one another as “unmarried partners.”  This study is the first to examine the difference and similarities among same-sex couples and married different-sex couples in the ACS.

More than one-quarter of the estimated 565,000 same-sex couples in the United States designated themselves as spouses. Same-sex spouses were reported in every state.

“While nearly 150,000 same-sex couples consider themselves to be spouses, we estimate that 32,000 same-sex couples were legally married in the United States by the end of 2008,” said Gary J. Gates, the Williams Distinguished Scholar and the study’s author.  Some couples may have had religious ceremonies or commitment ceremonies, others may be in civil unions or registered domestic partnerships, and some may simply believe themselves to have a marriage-like relationship regardless of their legal relationship status.

The report finds that same-sex spouses are more common in states that permit marriage for same-sex couples or some form of legal recognition.  For example, Massachusetts, in which same-sex have been able to legally marry since 2004, has 3.63 same-sex spousal couples per 1,000 households, the most of any state.

When comparing same-sex spouses to same-sex unmarried couples and to married different-sex couples, the report finds many similarities between same-sex and different-sex spouses.  They are similar in terms of age, education, household income, and homeownership rates.

Other notable findings include:

* Massachusetts, the first state to permit marriage for same-sex couples in 2004, had an estimated 3.63 same-sex spousal couples per 1,000 households in 2008, ranking first among all states. Vermont, which has offered civil unions since 2000, ranked second at 2.71. The remaining top five states ranked by same-sex spouse prevalence were Hawaii (2.43), Utah (2.32), and Wyoming (2.28).

* The District of Columbia had the highest prevalence of same-sex unmarried partners per 1,000 households (13.22), followed by Maine (6.81), Washington (5.84), Oregon (5.73), and New York (5.15).

* Same-sex spouses were more likely to be female; 56% of same-sex spouses were female while unmarried same-sex partners were evenly split between the sexes. This characteristic mirrors the higher rate of actual marriages by female couples in states that have extended marriage to same-sex couples.

* Same-sex spouses were twice as likely to be raising children–more than 31% of spouses are raising children as opposed to 17% of unmarried partners.

* Same-sex unmarried partners do differ in many ways from their different-sex unmarried counterparts. They are older, more educated, wealthier, more likely to own a home, more likely to be employed, and less likely to be raising children.

Gates notes that, “Despite the complicated legal status of same-sex couples in this country, many see themselves and spouses and, demographically, they look very much like married couples.”  The report’s findings underscore the significance of the Census Bureau’s recent decision to more accurately report the responses of same-sex couples in the United States, whether as spouses or as unmarried partners.

The full report is available at www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute

Statistical problems related to the development of the 2010 census form and the evolving legal state of same-sex relationships led Census officials to conclude that trying to include married gay couples in the overall snapshot of household marital status could yield an inaccurate number, said Gary Gates, a University of California, Los Angeles demographer who has been advising the bureau on gay issues.

Instead, same-sex married couples will be added into the category for unmarried partners, just as they were for the 2000 census. But in a marked policy departure, the agency plans to make the data on same-sex couples who described themselves as married available on a state-by-state basis.

“The Bureau has decided to give us the information, but be a little cautious,” Gates said.

The decision to develop separate sets of numbers was a compromise position that was “less about politics and more about accurate data,” he said.

Gates stressed that it was important for gay couples to participate in the census, noting that information drawn from the last one had been used in lawsuits dealing with same-sex marriage and to lobby congressional representatives who may wrongly assume they do not have many gay constituents.

Because same-sex marriages were not legal in any U.S. state a decade ago, the 2010 census is the first for which the bureau has wrestled with how to count married same-sex couples. In June, census officials announced that they would make the attempt, reversing an earlier decision made under the Bush administration.

Since then, however, it’s become clearer that a wildly inflated number could be produced if the number of heads of household who said they lived with another adult of the same sex, and described that person as a husband or wife, were only counted.

Some couples in civil unions or domestic partnerships, or who live as spouses in states where gay couples have no spousal rights, have tended in past surveys to identify themselves as husbands or wives anyway, according to Gates.

The annual American Community Survey the bureau produced for 2008, for example, had 150,000 married same-sex couples spread across every U.S. state, even though only two states – Massachusetts and for a 5-month period, California – allowed same-sex marriages. Gates estimates there are probably no more than 35,000 legally married gay couples in the country now.

Undercounting same-sex couples also remains a significant concern, Gates said, since some couples may not be living openly and fear discrimination.

Tim Olsen, assistant chief of the bureau’s field division, told gay community leaders at a census outreach meeting in San Francisco Thursday that the agency is continuing to refine the way it counts same-sex couples and could have the ability to separate married from unmarried couples in time for future surveys.

“We have a big opportunity to create a picture of America that includes us. We are not invisible anymore,” Olsen said.

This census marks the first time that gays and lesbians have been targeted for minority outreach efforts that also include reaching out to groups deemed “hard to reach” because of their disaffection with the government.

The gay community campaign will include a Web site, scheduled to go up in about two weeks, called Our Families Count, as well as advertising campaigns in cities with large gay populations. Among the video vignettes meant to demonstrate the nation’s diversity on the main census site is one featuring a transgender person, Olsen said.

“You will see yourself in these videos, whether you are Hispanic, black, white, mixed-race, gay or straight,” he said.

Although the census has not attempted to count individuals who identify as gay, lesbian or transgender, they could be included in the next count or even future editions of the annual American Community Survey, Olsen said. The survey, which is much more detailed than the 10-question census form that will be mailed to every household in March, is designed to give state and local governments a snapshot of how their populations are changing.

Olsen said gay leaders need to keep advocating if they want to be recognized.

“In terms of 2010, we are set in stone. For 2020, now is the time to start doing what you do best,” he said.

Statistics on same-sex couples have been available through analyzing Census data since 1990, but the 2010 count brings a new — out and open — approach in counting gay couples and reporting the statistics.

“This is a real change from the way we’ve been treated in the past,” said Molly McKay of Marriage Equality USA.
In 1990, the Census Bureau added “unmarried partner” to its Census questionnaire, and thus independent researchers, by looking at gender, could count same-sex unmarried couples.

Couples could do the same in 2000.

And, with the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, a new opportunity opened for the head of a household, when listing others in the residence, to check “husband or wife” and be counted as same-sex married household.

But the Bush administration determined that the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act prohibited federal agencies from tabulating and reporting data on same-sex marriages. Thus, the administration directed the bureau to recategorize same-sex couples who identified as “married” in the Census to “unmarried.”

For the past two years, activists, lawmakers and government employees have advocated changing that policy before Census forms go out in March 2010.

“We have followed with great concern news reports that the U.S. Census Bureau intends to continue ‘scrubbing’ data on same-sex married couples in its 2010 Census public reports,” a coalition of lawmakers wrote Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget, in May 2009.

“We are very concerned with this planned data modification and request your leadership in ensuring the Census Bureau adopt acceptable methods for identifying same-sex married couples in its publicly released data.”

Additionally, activists representing about 25 organizations met with administration and Census officials.

“We drew a line in the sand,” said Jaime Grant, director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.

And they won, securing more than a reversal of policy. The bureau committed to counting same-sex couples — married and unmarried — next year, as well as officially releasing the statistics.

“The data set is going to be rich,” said Timothy Olson, an assistant division chief with the U.S. Census Bureau. “This will be a powerful data set and it will play a significant role in all of the issues on the political side, the social side, healthcare, housing, public transportation.”

“We really see it as the door opener on changing the way the feds think about LGBT questions,” “The Census is our Trojan horse.”

Earlier this month, the bureau announced the launch of its first-ever Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Complete Count Committees in California in preparation for the 2010 Census.

The committees are locally driven efforts to educate and engage people to complete the Census, and they exist to reach into a variety of communities, especially traditionally under-counted communities.

“Our goal is to sign up and engage 120,000 [community representatives] to spread the word about the Census — that it is safe, easy and simple,” Olson said. “We are really focused on the partnership program.”

The outreach dates back to 1990, when the bureau sought to reverse a decline in mail-in responses to the Census.
“We are really fortunate in 2010 to have a community outreach program that is about five times larger than 2000,” Olson said. And, he said, 2000 was substantially larger than 1990.

The outreach is important because the bureau’s task is to make an accurate assessment of the U.S. population. The U.S. Constitution mandates the count: “Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers.… The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct.”

“People don’t understand the real impact of the Census in our society,” Olson said. “Redistricting. Reapportionment. Legislation. Funding. It really has a huge impact as to how we are represented in our democracy and on the level of funding. $300 billion a year is based on Census data.”

Researchers — most prominently those associated with the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law — have analyzed Census data and surveys in the past to document discrimination based on sexual orientation, to estimate the number of same-sex couples and to learn about the make-up of their families, their incomes and their healthcare situations.

“In 1990, we said, ‘Check the box,’” Grant said. “And in 2000, we said, ‘Check the box.’ Couples did. And we’ve been able to use that data to tell the story of our community.”

But there is more to the story, she said.

In addition to releasing official data about same-sex couples in the 2010 Census, the bureau plans to incorporate questions about same-sex couples in the American Community Survey, a bureau project that replaced the long-form questionnaire in the decennial Census.

The bureau has no plans to ask about sexual orientation or gender identity in 2010, but a nationwide “Queer the Census” campaign may provide the bureau with some numbers anyhow.

“We’re thrilled we’re going to see LGBT marriage in the Census,” Grant said. “But many of us are unpartnered and we should be just as visible. So we are very excited about this campaign.”

Through the campaign at www.queerthecensus.org, people can get a pink and purple “Queer the Census” sticker to affix to the back of their Census mailer.

On the sticker, people can check a box for all that apply — lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and straight ally. The sticker proclaims, “Everyone deserves to be counted. It’s time to queerthecensus.org.”

“But they are going to see a million pink and purple stickers,” Grant said. “We’re really hoping ‘Queer the Census’ is going to catch fire.”

About 27 percent of the estimated 564,743 total gay couples in the United States said they were in a relationship akin to “husband” and “wife,” according to the Census Bureau tally provided to The Associated Press. That’s compared with 91 percent of the 61.3 million total opposite-sex couples who reported being married.

A consultant to the Census Bureau estimated there were roughly 100,000 official same-sex weddings, civil unions and domestic partnerships in 2008.

Analysts said the disparities are probably a reflection of same-sex couples in committed relationships who would get married if they could in their states. The numbers are also an indicator of the count to come in the 2010 census, a tally that could stir a state-by-state fight over same-sex marriage, gay adoption and other legal rights.

Nationwide, about 56 percent of the 149,956 total same-sex marriages in the census survey last year were lesbian couples. Same-sex spouses were reported in every state; specific breakdowns weren’t immediately available.

“Even though in 2008 there were only a few states where you could get legally married, a large portion of same-sex couples either were married or chose to use that term,” said Gary Gates, a demographer at UCLA who is advising the Census Bureau.

Gates reviewed the number of marriage licenses issued and other factors to estimate the number of same-sex couples in legal relationships. During 2008, same-sex marriage was legal in California, Massachusetts, Iowa and Connecticut, while a handful of other states recognized civil unions and domestic partnerships. U.S. same-sex couples also can marry in Canada and other foreign countries.

Curtis Chin, 41, and Jeff Kim, 43, of Los Angeles, are among those who plan to report to the census that they are spouses. The two were planning a big wedding for 2009 but rushed into a private legal ceremony last fall when it became clear that California voters would soon ban same-sex marriages. Chin says he and Kim won’t feel like they are really married until they do a follow-up ceremony in front of family and friends but believe it’s important to get a full count.

“Gay couples are getting married or in committed relationships, and we are out here,” he said.

The numbers come as the Census Bureau prepares to make an official count of same-sex marriages, unions and partnerships for the first time in the 2010 head count, following the Obama administration’s decision to provide the numbers under pressure from gay-rights groups.

The figures provided to the AP also included higher, previously unreleased numbers for the three previous years.

In 2007, 341,000 out of 753,618 total same-sex couples reported being in a marriage relationship, even though only about 11,000 marriage licenses had been issued in the country. The numbers were even higher for 2005 and 2006; about 390,000 each year reported being in a same-sex marriage out of nearly 780,000 reported gay couples.

Martin O’Connell, the Census Bureau’s chief of the fertility and family statistics branch, attributed the higher numbers in previous years to a confusing survey layout and formatting errors. He said those problems were corrected for 2008.

“The president and the administration are committed to a fair and accurate count of all Americans,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said. “We’re in the midst of determining the best way to ensure that gay and lesbian couples are accurately counted.”

It is too late to change the language for the 2010 census survey, which does not include a specific box for same-sex marriages, civil unions or gay partnerships. That survey has already gone to Congress, with only boxes for “husband,” “wife” and “unmarried partner,” White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said.

So the administration is changing the census’ tabulation software to make needed changes in how the incoming data is analyzed and summarized. Formerly, if two people in one household checked “husband,” the data would be rejected. That will change, LaBolt said.

That means the count of same-sex couples won’t be comprehensive – but it will be better than before, he said. The Census Bureau has previously collected data on same-sex marriages, but not released it when it gives out all the other detailed demographic information from the decennial count, he said. Now it will be released.

On Wednesday, Obama signed a memorandum extending some of the benefits of married couples to the same-sex partners of gay federal employees. They include hospital visitation rights and the ability to take leave to care for a sick partner.

But the move to expand the rights of gays – a reliable Democratic voting bloc – was seen by many activists as too incremental and coming too late in Obama’s presidency. Health insurance and survivor benefits, among other things, were not part of Obama’s action, as they are forbidden by the 1993 Defense of Marriage Act.

Gay activists are angry that the president has not moved on legislation to overturn that law, which allows states to reject another state’s legalized gay marriages and blocks federal Washington from recognizing those state-based unions.

Another sore point is Obama’s inaction so far toward a repeal of the 1996 “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that bans gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military.

1. Dear  John Hodgman: please marry me. We can raise nerdy children.

2. Youtube is my week-end crack.

3. When will Pride events be over?

4. You and your lovah might be counted in the upcoming census!

5. Solitude becomes me.

6. This picture makes me worry about what will happen in Iran.

7. Looks like gay marriage will get voted on in New York. Empire State Pride Agenda thinks this is a good idea. What will happen is any one’s guess.

8. Americans winning a soccer match/game?! Get out!

9. When did New York City turn into Seattle? Nothing against the Emerald City but I’m not prepared for days and days and days and days of rain.

10. A Senate apology for slavery? Meh.

Quinn, a lesbian, is the second highest elected official in New York City.

The next census will take place in 2010, but in July the bureau said it would report legally married same-sex couples as unmarried.

The bureau blamed the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which bars the federal government from any recognition of gay and lesbian couples.

President Obama and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate have called for repeal of the law, but so far that has not occurred.

In a letter to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, who oversees the Census Bureau, Bloomberg and Christine Quinn said that counting same-sex marriages is crucial for state and local officials who use census data to plan for programs and social services.

“Although we understand that federal law may not recognize same-sex marriages for the purposes of administration of federal benefits programs, we do not believe it prevents the Census Bureau from reporting statistics from the forms of self-identifying same-sex couples married under state law, like all married couples,” the letter said.

Bloomberg and Quinn also said that not including same-sex marriages “could discourage” gays and lesbians from participating in the census.

In 2006, the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, ruled that same-sex couples do not have a constitutional right to marry. It said that the issue, however, could be taken up by the legislature.

Last May, while the legislature dithered over gay marriage, Gov. David Paterson (D) issued an executive order recognizing the marriages of all New York same-sex couples who were married in areas where they are legal.

Gay and lesbian couples can marry in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont, along with a number of countries including Canada.

When the 2010 Census numbers are eventually crunched, expect to learn nothing about gay couples or families. Neither will exist in the supposed snapshot of the American populace.

Census takers will mark down gay couples, even those married in Connecticut or Massachusetts, as “unmarried partners.” This non-counting will also apply to families. They will be checked as single parent households.

“This is all about the numbers. This  [is] not about lifestyle or anything else,” says U.S. Census spokeswoman Cynthia Endo.

Lifestyle?! Lifestyle?! Sigh. Let’s leave Ms. Endo alone for a moment and listen to someone who will explain why being miscounted is a problem.

“We have no population-based survey that asks sexual orientation annually in this country,” said Gary Gates of UCLA School of Law. Gates, who is well known for his own demographic work on the gay community, thinks health care could be one place where a clear  LGBT count would be helpful. I’m no genius but here is a health problem where some good numbers are required.

There’s nothing we can do about the 2010 Census, but it is time to start shaking the tree for 2020. Yes I know that’s a far way off but it takes Congress to fix this. And there is going to be a lot of work to do with the Defense of Marriage Act standing in the way. That law, signed by Bill Clinton, makes sure the federal government recognizes no state sanctioned gay union.  Start bugging your representative and gay rights organizations.

The study also found that nearly half of the same-sex couples in the Bronx have children.

The results were released Tuesday by the Williams Institute, a research facility at the University of California Los Angeles.

The study was based on data from Census 2000. It found there are nearly 26,000 same-sex couples in New York City, but that 62-percent live outside of Manhattan.

“We need to look beyond Will and Grace to understand the lives of gay and lesbian New Yorkers,” said study co-author and Senior Research Fellow Gary Gates.

Census data show that New York City¹s same-sex couples are raising an estimated 8,400 children in their homes.

These families are economically disadvantaged the study found. Average household incomes were between 7-percent for Brooklyn and 36-percent for Staten Island lower than their married counterparts.

They are also less likely than their married counterparts to own their own homes in every borough except Manhattan.

There are some notable differences in the characteristics of same-sex couples among the five boroughs the study found.

While nearly half of same-sex couples are raising children in the Bronx, only 4-percent of same-sex couples in Manhattan have children.

While same-sex male couples outnumber female couples by a 3-to-1 margin in Manhattan, the proportions are fairly even in Queens and Staten Island and female couples outnumber male couples in Brooklyn and the Bronx.

More than 4-in-10 individuals in same-sex couples are Latino in the Bronx, the only borough where those in same-sex couples are more likely to be non-white than those in different-sex married couples.

Individuals in same-sex couples in the Bronx also have lower educational levels and lower household incomes than their different-sex married counterparts, characteristics unique to that borough.