The Gay and Lesbian Atlas Displays First Detailed Portrait of Same-Sex Households across the United States; Available May 3

4/19/2004

From: Karen McKenzie, 202-261-5627 or kmckenzi@ui.urban.org, or Latricia Good, 202-261-5709, lgood@ui.urban.org, both of the Urban Institute

WASHINGTON, April 19, -- While it may come as no surprise that San Francisco and Provincetown host large gay and lesbian populations, few might guess that Albuquerque and Jersey City are among the country's "gayest" cities or rank North Dakota and Alabama among states with the highest concentrations of senior gay and lesbian couples.

The Gay and Lesbian Atlas, by Urban Institute demographer Gary Gates and researcher Jason Ost, is the first detailed geographic account of America's gay and lesbian households. Published by the Urban Institute Press (available May 3), The Gay and Lesbian Atlas mines Census 2000 data on the characteristics of 594,391 same-sex "unmarried partner" couples, commonly understood as gay and lesbian couples, to offer a unique statistical portrait that of this understudied community.

"We've long said that counting matters in debates about lesbian and gay issues. Now Gary Gates and Jason Ost have used the biggest and best dataset available on same-sex couples to show why in this remarkable book," says M. V. Lee Badgett, author of Money, Myths, and Change: The Economic Lives of Lesbians and Gay Men.

Woven throughout the 242-page publication are such findings as:

-- Vermont leads all states in the concentration of gay and lesbian couples. California, Washington, Massachusetts, and Oregon rank second through fifth. New Mexico, Nevada, and Arizona also appear in the top ten.

-- Among large metropolitan areas, San Francisco, Oakland, Seattle, Fort Lauderdale, and Austin rank highest in the concentration of same-sex couples. Smaller metropolitan areas include Portland, Maine; Asheville, North Carolina; Bloomington, Indiana; and Iowa City, Iowa.

-- The Cape Cod tourist destination of Provincetown claims the title of "gayest" town in America and also has the neighborhood with the country's highest concentration of same-sex couples. Neighborhoods in the California cities of San Francisco, Guerneville, and West Hollywood, along with areas in Fort Lauderdale, New York, Boston, and Houston, also rank among the top-ten neighborhoods.

-- While San Francisco; Fort Lauderdale; Santa Rosa, California; Seattle; and New York top metropolitan areas in the concentration of gay male couples, the leading areas for lesbian couples are Santa Rosa; Santa Cruz, California; Santa Fe; San Francisco; and Oakland.

-- Gay and lesbian couples appear to be "urban pioneers," willing to live in and possibly transform distressed urban areas. They are more likely than their heterosexual counterparts to live in racially and ethnically diverse neighborhoods that have more college-educated residents, older housing stock, and both higher crime rates and higher property values.

-- Same-sex couples with children often live in states and large metropolitan areas not known for large gay and lesbian communities. Mississippi, South Dakota, Alaska, South Carolina, and Louisiana are where same-sex couples are most likely raising children.

-- The South dominates the rankings of states by the concentration of African-American same-sex couples among all households and among other gay and lesbian couples. Texas's metropolitan areas (with their large Hispanic communities) feature prominently in similar rankings by the concentration of Hispanic gay or lesbian couples.

More facts and findings can be found at http://urban.org/url.cfm?ID=900695.

For all 50 states The Gay and Lesbian Atlas presents a two-page spread with colorful maps and charts showing the geographic distribution of same-sex couples and highlighting demographic characteristics, including age, race and ethnicity, and child- raising. Twenty-five cities also are profiled with similar maps and charts-the 20 cities with the highest number of same-sex couples (in order: New York; Los Angeles; Chicago; San Francisco; Houston; Dallas; Seattle; San Diego; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Washington, D.C.; Boston; Portland, Oregon; Denver; Atlanta; Oakland; Minneapolis/St. Paul; Columbus, Ohio; Miami/Ft. Lauderdale; and Austin), along with five cities chosen for geographic diversity or to acknowledge particularly high concentrations of gay and lesbian couples (Orlando; New Orleans; Nashville; Kansas City, Kansas/Missouri; and Albuquerque).

Jonathan Rauch, author of Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America, declares, "Two words for this book: at last! Thanks to the detailed, meticulous, and often surprising work of Gary Gates and Jason Ost, the invisible minority is invisible no longer. For the first time, Gates and Ost provide comprehensive answers based on the demographer's gold standard-the U.S. Census. The result is a new benchmark for research and public debate."

The Gay and Lesbian Atlas, by Gary J. Gates and Jason Ost, will be available from the Urban Institute Press (11 x 81/2, 242 pages, ISBN 0-87766-721-7, $49.50). Order online at http://www.uipress.org or call 202-261-5687 or toll-free 1-877- 847-7377. The Urban Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy research and educational organization that examines the social, economic, and governance challenges facing the nation.