Census Bureau Wipes Out 28% of Gay Couples

[Lucky]

Hopefully the bf and I still count!

Bye Bye Gays

[Lucky]

But SFGate.com (The Chronicle) puts it more optimistically, heading the article "Same-Sex Couples Jumped 80% In Decade"

Same-sex households jumped 80 percent in decade

Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

(09-27) 15:43 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Emboldened by advances in gay and lesbian legal protections and overall acceptance, the number of Americans reporting that they are living as same-sex couples skyrocketed by 80 percent over the past decade, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Census figures released Tuesday showed there were 646,464 same-sex households in the United States in 2010, compared with 358,390 in 2000. Twenty percent of couples living in same-sex households last year listed themselves as married, the Census Bureau said.

In California, there were 98,153 same-sex households last year, of which 29 percent listed themselves as married.

Same-sex marriage was legal in California from June to November 2008, but some couples may be listing themselves as spouses by personal interpretation under domestic partnerships, private ceremonies or other recognitions, census officials said. The same applies for the national figures.

"The overall increase in same-sex couples is clearly a result of decreased stigma since 2000," said Gary Gates, a Census Bureau consultant and researcher at UCLA's Williams Institute, which conducts research into gay and lesbian demographics.

However, this also was the first time the bureau made an aggressive effort to tally gay and lesbian couples, and Gates said that made a difference.

"For the first time, they did specific outreach to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community to ask them to fill out forms, and they actually distributed materials urging it," Gates said.

That was crucial in obtaining an accurate count of same-sex households, because gays and lesbians are still regarded with hostility in many communities, Gates said - so much so that he estimates about 10 percent of same-sex couples listed themselves as "roommates" rather than same-sex households out of fear.

"This is still a difficult issue for many people and for many faiths," Gates said.

In 2000, there were no states that allowed gays and lesbians to marry - the first was Massachusetts, in 2004. When the 2010 figures were compiled, five states and the District of Columbia were issuing marriage certificates to same-sex couples.

Even with gay and lesbian marriage illegal in California since the passage of Proposition 8 in 2008, more than half of all same-sex couples in the country who report being in civil unions or domestic partnerships live in this state.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/27/MNVJ1LABRU.DTL#ixzz1ZCX7MqyN

[Guest hitoallusa]

The world is changing and I believe there will be more gay couples. My question is how are we going to solve a temporary social and institutional instability it introduces to the society without war and violence. It's a problem we should solve.