Our Families are Like Your Families New Study Shows

11/03/09-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
One in four of the 150,000 gay and lesbian couples who were surveyed by a UCLA think tank referred to their partner as either husband or wife, and of those, the demographics are almost identical as those of straight couples. This may not seem like groundbreaking news of the kind you run home and tell people about, but it is significant. The statistics are simple. The average age of the gay and lesbian couples is about two years higher than that of the straight couples- 52 years to 50, and earn about $4,000 less or $91,000 compared to $95,000. The biggest difference was in the number of couples raising children. With regards to raising children, there is a twelve percent gap with only 31% of gay or lesbian households raising children to 43% of straight households raising children. This is largely due to the initial expenses of having children and the difficulties of adopting children. The survey data did not mention whether or not the children were the biological offspring of one parent in the couple through divorce, invitro, surrogacy or if the children were adopted.

“It’s intrinsically interesting that same-sex couples who use the term spouses look like opposite-sex married couples even with a characteristic like children. Most proponents of traditional marriage will say that when you allow these couples to marry, you are going to change the fundamental nature of marriage by decoupling it from procreation. Clearly, in the minds of same-sex couples who are marrying or think of themselves as married, you are not decoupling child-rearing from marriage,” ,” said UCLA demographer Gary Gates, the conductor of the survey.

It is not surprising that Massachusetts and Vermont, two long standing proponents of marriage equality in some form, have the highest percentages of gay and lesbian couples who consider themselves to be married. Hawaii, Utah, and Wyoming all come in below those two. One Utah resident stated that she believed that this was because of the mentality in Utah which fosters marriage.

In terms of gay and lesbian couples, however, the demographics shift if all couples are included. Washington, DC has more gay and lesbian couples than anywhere in the country, a factor that may mean that a ballot initiative to overrule the passage of marriage equality in the nation’s capitol could face stiff opposition. The next below DC is Maine, where voters are currently fighting to either repeal or keep the law granting marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples.