Census data released Thursday by the
government shows California gay and lesbian couples who live in
suburban and rural areas are far more likely to be raising children.
The government released 2010 Census
statistics on five states today: California, Delaware, Kansas,
Pennsylvania and Wyoming. Data for additional states will be
released through August.
According
to the San
Jose Mercy News, roughly 25 percent of California's gay
couples are raising children, and couples with kids are more likely
to live in suburban or rural areas.
“We're not just some special interest
group concentrated in major urban centers,” said Cheryl Dumesnil,
who is raising 2 children with her partner Tracie Vickers. “We're
actually everywhere, and just trying to live a legally protected and
fulfilling life.”
Married dad Joe Horacek told the paper
that living in the suburbs was easier when their kids were young: “My
son has encountered some negative reactions from kids on Facebook.
We don't want to be the ones who put the targets on their back. All
kids get picked on for something, but usually it has to do with them.
We're adding this extra liability for them fitting in.”
Still, the highest concentrations of
households headed by gay couples in the Bay Area can be found in San
Francisco, nearly 3 percent. The cities of Oakland, Berkeley and
Emeryville came in a close second with 2 percent. Los Angeles has
the highest number of gay households among California cities.
Bloomberg News noted that the
new statistics show growth in households headed by gay couples is
outpacing growth in households headed by married straight couples in
California.
“The population of homosexuals living
together as partners climbed 36.2 percent, and the increase for
married heterosexuals was 5.7 percent,” the
weekly glossy reported. “Even with the gain, same-sex domestic
partners make up just 1 percent of all households in the
most-populous state.”
California recognizes gay couples with
domestic partnerships. (Roughly 18,000 couples legally married in
California before passage of Proposition 8, the state's gay marriage
ban.)