Nov 09, 2007  |  By: LISA KEEN  | COMMENTS     

The District of Columbia, if counted among the states, is the gayest. Among U.S. cities, it’s the eighth gayest. And the number of same-sex couples identifying their relationship in U.S. Census surveys is five times larger now than it was when the information was first collected on a national scale in 1990.

Those are just some of the conclusions found in “Geographic Trends Among Same-Sex Couples in the U.S. Census and the American Community Survey,” a study released Nov. 2. The study was prepared by Gary Gates, a senior research fellow at the Williams Institute, a research center at UCLA for sexual orientation, law and policy studies. Gates examined data from the 1990 and 2000 decennial surveys of every household in the United States and data from the annual “American Community Surveys” for the years 2002 through 2006.

His report shows that the 2006 Census Bureau data estimates there are 779,867 same-sex couples in the United States — up from 145,130 who self-identified in the 1990 decennial census.

In the District of Columbia, the number of same-sex couples went from 2,213 counted in 1990 and 3,678 counted in 2000 to a slight drop to 3,520 estimated in 2006.

When those numbers are examined in relation to the overall number of households, D.C.’s ranking has slipped. In 1990, it ranked fifth among cities in the concentration of same-sex couples, with 8.89 same-sex couples for every 1,000 households. In 2000, it dropped to sixth, even though its concentration was higher —14.81 per 1,000. But between 2004 and 2006, it dropped again, to eighth, as did its concentration — to 13.49 same-sex couples per 1,000 households. (When assessing the concentration of same-sex couples reported in the annual community surveys, Gates used an average from the three years 2004, 2005 and 2006.)

But if D.C. is compared to other states (as it often is in various population-based studies), its 13.49 same-sex couples per 1,000 households in the last three years of surveys made it the gayest state. The next-highest concentration was found in Vermont, which had 9.71 same-sex couples per 1,000.

Maryland ranks No. 13 among states, with 7.28 same-sex couples per 1,000 households; Virginia ranks 27th, with 6.38 same-sex couples per 1,000.

Gates says his analysis “allows us to measure the closet” — the number of people who were unwilling to self-identify as gay — between 1990 and 2006.

“And it gives us a clue about what states might be turning a little more purple,” he said, referring to the identification of state voting records as trending toward Democratic (blue) or Republican (red).

Utah, he said, was the most dramatic in both respects. In regard to the concentration of same-sex couples, Utah ranked number 38 in 1990. But in 2006, it ranked 14th.

“It’s now one of the gayest states in the country,” Gates said. That finding stands in contrast to what many think of Utah — a Mormon-dominated population that is hostile to gays.

Also among Gates’ findings:

• Among states, Vermont has the highest concentration of same-sex couple households (9.71 per 1,000 households); followed by New Mexico (9.03), Massachusetts (8.99), Washington (8.94) and Oregon (8.83).
• Among cities, San Francisco continues to reign as the gayest U.S. city, based on its concentration of same-sex households (28.72 per 1,000). Seattle comes second (21.27), followed by Minneapolis (18.68), Portland, Ore., (16.94), and Sacramento, Calif., (16.36).
• Of the 779,867 same-sex couples in 2006, the data estimates that 53.5 percent are male couples and 46.5 percent are female couples.

Comparing population trends of the public at large and those of same-sex couple households, Gates found evidence suggesting more same-sex couples are moving from the city to the suburbs.

The greatest surge in the number of reported same-sex couple households occurred between the 1990 census, when the census form first provided an option for same-sex couples to identify themselves, and 2000. In 2000, the 594,391 same-sex couples were more than three times the 145,130 identified in 1990. The increase between 2000 and 2006 was 185,476 couples, or a 31 percent increase.

The concentration of same-sex couples to all households grew from 1.56 per 1,000 in 1990 to 5.61 per 1,000 in 2000 and 6.79 per 1,000 for 2004-2006.

While the decennial survey numbers are based on a questionnaire that the Census Bureau tries to have every household in the country fill out, the American Community Survey is an annual questionnaire sent out to only about 3 million households nationwide — about 250,000 each month. At the end of the year, the data is put together and a calculation provides ...