Forget the Minneapolis-San Francisco rivalry for America’s gayest city. A new analysis of census data reveals that the ten American cities with the highest gay populations per capita are actually older cities where openly gay baby boomers have settled down. Minnesota and San Francisco didn’t even make the list, which goes to show that your nearby neighborhood could well be gayer than the gay tourist meccas of the U.S.
Maddie
Hahahahahah funny
t2
This data is for same sex couples only, not single people
Jim Hlavac
Everyone keeps going on about this “census” data for gays, and I keep remembering, that’s right — the Census does not count gay people, nor gay couples, but “single people of the same sex living together” or some weird formulation of bizarre words to avoid counting gays. And it certainly didn’t count gay couples in 1990 or 2000, and I’ve never seen the words “gay” or “homosexual” on any census form, have you? And as for 2000, the Census bureau itself admitted that it changed the gender of one of the gay couples whenever any of us had the temerity to list themselves on the census form.
From every report I’ve ever seen, the Census Bureau is told by law NOT to count us. The numbers of “studies” and “counts” of us are limited to 5 or 6 phone surveys, which the Williams Institute pulled together to conclude (less than brilliantly) that there were Exactly 2,491,034! gay men — down to the very 34th last one, eh? And that there were 790,000 transsexuals, and nearly as many lesbians as gay men, and we all know that ain’t telling the truth.
Other than that, every news report, being bereft of actual you know, Data, says between 10% and 1% of the county is gay, and 10 to 80% of us are “married,” or something, and you can take your pick depending your desire for more or less of us. The Census is making up these numbers, or guessing them, if they aren’t counting us in the census, that’s for sure. And I don’t care if the NYTimes joins the parade of number mush, it’s still mush. Egad.
Jim Hlavac
And so I go to the NYT article, and lo, whom do I see leading the count? Gary Gates. Who does not work “for” the Census, but “with” the Census, or by some contract, perhaps, because, again, the Census doesn’t count us, it contracts out the guessing. And he’s the one who comes up with the number that just sticks in my head — 2,491,034 — by combining 5 or 6 flawed phone surveys over a 15 year period! Blah.
And I think, hmm, 1500 gay bars nationwide, maybe more, and 1500 gay businesses (gyms, coffee shops, etc.) And on any given Friday, let’s say 250 gay guys go through the doors of the bars and the coffee shops, and gay hangouts, and well, a little math shows then that 1.5 million gay men are out on any given Friday. And 1.5 million on Saturday. And one would presume 1.5 million out on a Sunday or a Thursday, and Lord knows the rest of the month, for our numbers be exhausted. Hell, knock the number down to a Million, for all I care, and you still come up with a number far out of proportion to anything Gates says. And thus one concludes, from such “data” that is presented, that gay folks are out at the bars so much there’s no time to do the laundry or have a job.
Meanwhile, anybody could go to a gay travel website and see the popular gay resorts, and go to a gay guide, and see where the bars are concentrated, and make as sure a count as this “data” purports to present. Meanwhile, on the Withlacoochee River in no-where Florida there’s a gay resort that I doubt ever made the count whatsoever. And in that little voting ward of that county, there’s nearly 50% gay couples, which does then win the award. If one is just guessing, which these “data” hounds are doing. Blah.
And I was just at the NYC gay pride parade, with an estimated 1,000,000 folks, but I was not at all the other gay pride parades nationwide that wonderful weekend, and can conclude that there were several millions more milling about on one gay pride weekend than there are supposedly numbers of us in existence. Blah, numbers mush.
Mike in Asheville
@Jim Hlavac:
A couple of points:
* This is another shitty post by Queerty/Daniel Villarreal. The study was not about populations of gays/lesbians, it was same-sex couples. So big fail, once again.
*The Bureau of the Census gathers information. Most all analysis of the data collected is conducted by third party researchers from a variety of universities and NGOs, including the Williams Institute.
* The earlier Williams Institute study counting the number of gay men in the US was, as you point out, horribly horribly flawed. That failure certainly raises doubts about this study and their other work. That is a terrible shame, as the Williams Institute’s mission is to broaden the understanding of homosexuality in America.
* BUT, you are mistaken about how some of the data was collected. You stated that it was barred by law to undertake a counting of the number of “gay” people in the census. That is incorrect. I thought I remembered indicating on my census form that I was in a same-sex couple household, and after reading your post, Googled the 2010 Census Form. Indeed, there was an option available for “Unmarried Partner”. Since each person included on the household form is identified by their sex, Person 1 = male; Person 2 = male; How is Person 2 related to Person 1 = Unmarried Partner, clearly indicates a same-sex couple (other options indicating the relationship between Person 2 to Person 1 included: parent/grandparent, roommate, boarder, etc. which would separate same-sex non-couples from same-sex couples).
***************
I hope other researchers will conduct their own analysis of the collected data as there is much important useful information: for example, if indeed 13.96% of Wilton Manors households are gay couples (plus then gay singles), they have an extremely powerful voice in reversing the rampant discrimination in homophobic Florida.
Steve
I don’t believe that only 14 percent of the households in Wilton Manors are same-sex couples. We live in Fort Lauderdale, just two miles away from Wilton Manors, and have many friends in Wilton Manors. In Wilton Manors, gay/lesbian households are more like 30 percent of the population. But I also know the source of the discrepancy.
When census forms were distributed to South Florida in March of 2010, the policy was very clearly stated: If ‘person 2’ was of the same sex as ‘person 1’, and the relationship to person 1 was either ‘married’ or ‘unmarried partner’, then that entire form would be discarded. None of the people in that household would be counted in the census at all. We were specifically instructed, by census officials, city officials, and gay organizations, NOT to select either ‘married’ or ‘unmarried partner’. That instruction was widely disseminated, in newspapers and on TV.
A few weeks later, after a major amount of complaining, the Census Commission changed that policy. It seems that the original policy was staff-interpretation of the law, which states that same-sex couples should not be counted. The staff interpreted that as meaning, that if a household contains a same-sex couple, then those people should not be counted at all. The Commission decided that they should count whatever answers are provided on the forms, and just not use the words ‘gay’ or ‘lesbian’ to label the resulting counts.
But, most people sent those forms back right away, before the policy change. We did. My partner and I answered ‘other nonrelative’, exactly as we were specifically instructed to do. The form was already in the mail before the policy was changed.
As a result, this census under-counts both same-sex ‘married couples’ and ‘unmarried partners’, by a wide margin.
Mike in Asheville
@Steve: Sorry, but you are mistaken about at least the point that if the form was not filled out per instructions, then the people listed on the forms would not be counted at all. By law, as required by the Constitution, each and every person MUST be counted. Of course, that does not mean that each and every person is actually accounted for in their proper listing, but each and every person is counted. Forms are not allowed to be simply discarded, the Bureau of the Census is required to account each household including, as necessary, making a physical site location. (The bureau, again as required by law, even makes location visits to homeless shelters and encampments to count people who do not live in conventional housing.)
Steve
@Mike in Asheville: Whether the stated policy was compliant with the constitution or not, the policy (that gay couples were NOT to be counted, at all) was very clearly stated and communicated. Because of that policy, there were elected officials in Florida, in newspapers and on TV shows, telling us specifically NOT to select those relationships, during February and March of 2010. In JUNE of 2010, several weeks AFTER the forms were delivered and returned, the census officials published a little press release to say otherwise.
I consider this as yet another way the R’s tried to suppress the census counts in D counties. By making it confusing, and trying to intimidate people, they did succeed in getting some amount of under-count. We will never know exactly how much.
Mike in Asheville
@Steve: Well then Steve, explain how the reports show ANY same-sex couples, let alone almost 14% of all households being same-sex couples rather than households with same-sex room/house-mates?
Frank in Miami Beach
The detailed analysis I have (by zip code, county, metro area) indicate that there is a strong bias towards white, higher income areas in reporting same sex partner households in this U.S. Census report.
I have counted over 6 million gay memberships in over 40 gay social websites; I have received data on gay identified men living with HIV down to the zip code level in all
major metro areas. The correlation between men living with HIV AND men who are members of these counted websites is much stronger than that in comparison to the Census reports.
As an example, I will compare the above data for Miami-Dade vs. Broward counties in Florida.
Miami-Dade 115,884 members on 40 gay sites 13,368 HIV living gays 8468 Census Male Cpls
Broward 87,843 members on 40 gay sites 8,918 HIV living gay 12104 Census Male Cpl
As shown Miami-Dade percentages are similar in comparing members of sites and gay males living with HIV. However, the Census count is radically different.
Miami Dade is over 62% Latin (in both Census population counts and HIV and Site memberships. Broward in over 64 White in both measures. Also, the median income level
in Miami among Latins is much lower than that of whites in Broward. These are the primary reasons, I believe, for the Census discrepancy reports.
This comparison holds true in comparing all zip codes and metro areas…the higher percentage of whites and the higher the income, the greater tendency to report one is in a same sex couple relationship. Black gays in particular seem to be particularly under counted in the Census.
Bottom line, do not put much stock into the accuracy of the Census in obtaining an accurate count of the gay population.