Our favorite gay geek Nate Silver has just released the results of a new study that finds that — duh — same-sex couples are more likely to settle down in states that are welcoming to gays.
Shocking, we know.
At the Five Thirty Eight website, Silver used Census data to compare the number of married and unmarried same-sex partners in states that have marriage equality or same-sex domestic partnerships to the number of those in states that don’t have such progressive LGBT rights.
The results don’t surprise, but they’re still interesting to note:
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…in a state where 30 percent of the adult population supports gay marriage, about 11 percent of LGBT adults will live together as couples. By comparison, in a state where support for gay marriage is 60 percent, 17 percent will.
But the rates of same-sex household formation are a little higher in states that are more tolerant toward gays and lesbians. In the six states (and the District of Columbia) that permitted gay marriage as of Jan. 1, 2012, 17.6 percent of LGBT adults lived in same-sex domestic households. By comparison, 15.3 percent did in states that recognized domestic partnerships (but not gay marriage), and 14.4 percent in those that allowed neither option.
There is much more over at Five Thirty Eight, including some pretty snazzy charts and graphs if you’re into that kind of thing, as well as some surprising findings.
If the noise, congestion, and sheer amount of people in the larger cities gets to you, who knew that New Mexico was such a friendly option for LGBT people who wanted to make it official?
Mezaien
NO KIDDING~.
jar
Eh, Nate Silver is not gay.
Merv
@jar: Yes, Nate is gay, and very open about it.
1EqualityUSA
I would estimate a 99.9% chance of Nate Silver being gay.
FStratford
I think Nate got this one backwards.
This is a better interpretation of the data:
In states where gays are living in the open and are forming families and have signified intent to get married, they were able to convince their straight allies, the legislature and the courts to overthrow laws that have denied them equal rights.