I don't think that it was really a bigotted statement. He was speaking the truth.
U.S. census finds nearly 500,000 gay couples
Andrew Quinn, Reuters
Wednesday, August 8, 2001 / 04:07 PM
SUMMARY: New census figures give a fresh estimate of the number of gay and lesbian couples in the United States, showing same-sex households flourishing everywhere from big city centers to small towns and remote rural regions.
SAN FRANCISCO -- New census figures give a fresh estimate of the number of gay and lesbian couples in the United States, showing same-sex households flourishing everywhere from big city centers to small towns and remote rural regions.
The 2000 figures, released on Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau, are the most comprehensive count of same-sex couples in U.S. history and reflect a change in polling questions that allowed gay and lesbian couples to identify themselves clearly to demographers.
"These numbers show us that gay and lesbian couples exist in virtually every county in the United States," said Gary Gates, a research associate at the Urban Institute in Washington who specializes in gay and lesbian population studies.
The new data show a major jump in self-identified gay and lesbian pairings, rising to 472,289 last year from 121,346 in 1990. And while 10 years ago gay couples were reported in only about half of U.S. counties, the latest numbers show them in 99.2 percent of the 2,418 counties that have reported so far.
<b>California continues to lead the pack</b>, with more than 92,000 same-sex couples around the state, up threefold from 1990 and double the number reported in the runner-up state, New York.
But while well-known gay and lesbian destinations such as the San Francisco Bay Area continue to boast the highest percentage of same-sex couples -- more than 7 percent of all couples both married and unmarried in the case of San Francisco -- other regions of the country are also experiencing a boom in gay and lesbian pairings.
Santa Fe ranks second.
