Social conservatives are about to shit their pants. A new report from UCLA’s Williams Institute says that the number of out gay couples has quadrupled since 1990, particularly in the more right-leaning South, Midwest and Mountain regions. Says senior research Gary Gates:
Clearly, more same-sex couples are willing to openly identify themselves as such on government surveys.
A combination of growing social acceptance and migration to the South and West means that same-sex couples are becoming increasingly visible in the most politically and socially conservative parts of the country.
Ha! We love that anti-gay states are seeing an influx of homos. It’s like a progressive political plague!
Jerry McHugh
Clearly more same-sex couples are willing to openly identify themselves as such, however I don’t see that this research proves gays and lesbians are migrating to the South and West. Rather, I believe that because local social stigmas are beginning to evaporate, gays and lesbians, who already lived in these areas, are becoming much more open about their sexual orientation.
The great news is that, while we are far from being able to count the number of gays and lesbians in the USA, the numbers are starting to grow from the tiny one-half of one percent reported in the original analysis of the 2000 US Census toward a more realistic 5-6% as calculated by the British.