A Gallup poll released Friday found
that more gay couples are in a marriage or domestic partnership than
previously thought.
Pollsters
found that nearly 2 million adults are in either a
same-sex marriage (780,000) or a domestic partnership (1.2 million).
Approximately 60,000 of these married
couples live in one of the 13 states where such unions are not
recognized.
Previous estimates based on findings by
the CDC in the 2013 National Health Interview Survey put the number
of married gay couples at 130,000, or 260,000 individuals.
The number of states where gay couples
can legally marry dramatically increased after the Supreme Court
refused to review appellate court rulings striking down restrictive
state marriage bans in October. The nation's highest court will hear
arguments in a case challenging bans in four states on Tuesday, with
a ruling expected in June.
The Los Angeles Times noted that
the increase in marriages is a “reflection of the growth in the
number of states that have legalized same-sex marriage in recent
years.”