For the first time as of last year, the U.S. Census allowed married gay respondents to report their relationship status in the nation’s largest household poll. More than 130,000 gay couples identified themselves as married, although the number may inch closer to 100,000, making up for those couples who have been ceremonially married as opposed to legally married.
Americans who live with their same-sex partner also doubled from a decade ago to nearly 650,000. The poll suggests gay couples are now more open about revealing their identities, which may also suggest a greater social acceptance for gay people.
From Time magazine:
According to Census data, same-sex partners that are married or living together make up only about 0.5% of U.S. households. Same-sex couples were reported in every state, including some marriages in states where gay marriage is not legal. The total number of gay marriages now is expected to have well exceeded the reported 130,000, because of New York’s legalization of same-sex marriage this year, after the Census was taken.
For the 2000 Census, citing the Defense of Marriage Act, the Bush administration ordered the Census Bureau to recode same-sex-marriage responses to instead be counted as unmarried partnerships. Obama reversed the decision in 2009.
