Gay Marriage: Facts and Resources
Statistics and facts for same sex marriage can be hard to find. Gay marriage is in the news a lot, but a lot of people just want unbiased information before deciding how they feel about it.
Here's what you need to know:
Support for Gay Marriage
- 41% support gay marriage
- 49% oppose it.
- 10% say it depends or are unsure.
Historical trend of increasing support:
- Public support for gay marriage has increased about 1% annually over the last two decades.
- Statisticians predict a majority of Americans will support gay marriage by 2012.
Marriage Laws
Where Gay Marriage is Legal:
- Massachusetts (2004)
- Connecticut (2008)
- Iowa (2009)
- Vermont (2009)
- New Hampshire (2010)
- Washington, D.C. (Coming in March 2010)
Where Gay Marriage From Other Places is Recognized:
- New York
- California (but only if you got married before Proposition 8 passed)
Demographics
The most recent census did not count gay marriages directly, so the following are estimates based on how people reported their household. It counts households with 2 members of the same sex that are unrelated.
- Total Number of Gay Couples: 594,391
- Number of People in a Couple: 1.2 Million
- State With the Most Couples: California (92,138)
- State With the Least Couples: North Dakota (703)
- Highest Concentration of Gay Couple (% of all couples): Washington, D.C. (1.29%)
- Lowest Concentration of Gay Couples (% of all couples): North and South Dakota (.22%)
Gay people make up 1-4% of the population in most cities, but are more concentrated [PDF] in metropolitan areas.
Highest Number of Same Sex Couples:
- New York, NY: 47,000
- Los Angeles, CA: 12,000
- Chicago, IL: 10,000
Highest Concentration of Gay People:
- San Francisco, CA: 15.4%
- Seattle, WA: 12.9%
- Atlanta, GA: 12.8%
Lowest Concentration of Gay People:
- Detroit, MI: 1.5%
- Richmond, VA: 3.4%
- Cleveland, OH and Memphis, TN: 3.5%
Resources
State by State Map of Gay Marriage Laws. The Wall Street Journal compiled information from the Human Rights Campaign, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and other sources, to compile a user-friendly interactive map.
Text of State Constitutional Amendments Targeting Same-Sex Marriage. If you're one of those people who wants to read the laws themselves to see how exactly gay marriage is outlawed, check out this collection put together by Lambda Legal.
Year 2000 Census Information on Same Sex Households. Expect these numbers to increase in 2010 more than other types of families. The 2010 census will be the first to let gay couples report as married.
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