y comparing the gender of the household members who identified themselves as unmarried partners, the Census Bureau was able to identify unmarried couples made up of 2 men or 2 women. The 1990 count of same-gender unmarried-partner couples was 145130.1
Census 2000 also collected data on unmarried-partner households of the same and opposite genders. A special report on this topic from the Census Bureau indicated that the number of same-gender unmarried-partner households was 594691 in 2000.2 The increase over the 1990 count is likely a result of changes in social climate with regard to gay and lesbian relationships, a willingness on the part of census respondents to identify their sexual orientation, and use of anonymous versus in-person survey methods.
Numerous demographers report that this number, although significant, is still likely to be a considerable undercount of the actual number of same-gender partner households in the United States. Several factors explain this undercount. For confidentiality reasons, some couples may have preferred not to identify the nature of their relationship on a government survey. Some couples may define their relationship as something other than husband/wife or unmarried partner. Other couples may consider themselves married according to a more broad interpretation of the social construct of civil marriage. However, for the purposes of the 2000 census report, after the enactment of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 1996, the Census Bureau was required to invalidate any responses that designated a same-gender individual as a spouse and assign those responses to the same-gender unmarried-partner category.3 Research indicates that the Census Bureau missed at least 16% to 19% of all gay or lesbian couples in the 2000 count.4
Despite the likelihood of an undercount and the legal restrictions on the Census Bureau resulting from the enactment of DOMA, Census 2000 represents the most comprehensive source of data on same-gender partnered households to date, allowing demographers to analyze data at the national, state, city/town, and community levels.*
Specific Census 2000 findings include:
Same-gender couples live in 99.3% of all US counties.
Same-gender couples are raising children in at least 96% of all US counties.
Nearly one quarter of all same-gender couples are raising children.
Nationwide, 34.3% of lesbian couples are raising children, and 22.3% of gay male couples are raising children (compared with 45.6% of married heterosexual and 43.1% of unmarried heterosexual couples raising children).
Vermont has the largest aggregation of same gender-couples (∼1% of all households) followed by California, Washington, Massachusetts, and Oregon.
Regionally, the South has the highest percentage of same-gender couples who are parents; 36.1% of lesbian couples and 23.9% of gay couples in the South are raising children.
The second highest percentage is seen in the Midwest, where 34.7% of lesbian couples and 22.9% of gay couples are parenting children.
In the West, 33.1% of lesbian couples and 21.1% of gay couples are parents.
In the Northeast, 32.6% of lesbian couples and 21.7% of gay couples are raising children.
The states with the highest percentages of lesbian couples raising children are Mississippi (43.8%), South Dakota and Utah (42.3% each), and Texas (40.9%).
The states with the highest percentages of gay male couples raising children are Alaska (36%), South Dakota (33%), Mississippi (31%), and Idaho and Utah (30% each).
Six percent of same-gender couples are raising children who have been adopted compared with 5.1% of heterosexual married couples and 2.6% of unmarried heterosexual couples.†
Eight percent of same-gender parents are raising children with special health care needs, compared with 8.3% of heterosexual unmarried parents and 5.8% of heterosexual married parents.
Of same-gender partners raising children, 41.1% have been together for 5 years or longer, whereas 19.9% of heterosexual unmarried couples have stayed together for that duration.
It is difficult to determine exactly 