Report: Gay Couples Similar to Straight Spouses

[David Zephyr]

Source: AP

SAN FRANCISCO – Same-sex couples who identify as married are similar to straight spouses in terms of age and income, and nearly one-third of them are raising children, according to Census data released Monday that provides a demographic snapshot of gay families in America.

The study released by a think tank based at UCLA also found that Utah and Wyoming were among the states with the highest percentages of gay spouses in 2008, despite being heavily conservative states with no laws providing legal recognition of gay relationships.

The data from the annual American Community Survey showed that nearly 150,000 same-sex couples in the U.S., or more than one in four, referred to one another as "husband" or "wife," although UCLA researchers estimate that no more than 32,000 of the couples were legally married.

The couples had an average age of 52 and household incomes of $91,558, while 31 percent were raising children. That compares with an average age of 50, household income of $95,075 and 43 percent raising children for married heterosexual couples.



Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CENSUS_GAY_MARRIAGE?SITE=NYBUE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[Behind the Aegis]

1. File this under "DUH!" for those of us with an ounce of intelligence.

This could be a very useful tool, it may some str8s that we are as boring as they are and have a "lifestyle" as mired in tediousness.

[CatholicEdHead]

2. Just what I was going to say

That is so obvious, DUH.

[Fearless]

6. Ditto!

[XemaSab]

8. +1

n/t

[DBoon]

3. so we are all pretty similar in our basic humanity

we all want pretty much the same for ourselves and our loved ones

Odd isn't it?

[Hekate]

4. Utah and Wyoming? Whodathunkit? That's the only counterintuitive part of the study for me...

The conclusions are what we would hope to see in this day and age. "They" are "us". "They" are not "the Other".
I'm convinced that the edict about marriage is going to have to come from the federal level, like desegregation.

Hekate

[dysfunctional press]

5. wouldn't they be similar to straight couples?

and not just a spouse...?

[xchrom]

7. who the FUCK did i lend my D'UH smilie to and they didn't give it back?!?!?!?! nt

[BobTheSubgenius]

9. Wow!!!!!

Just like Regular People? Stop the presses!

:sarcasm: (figured I'd better add that for the Hard Of Thinking)

[Skittles]

10. no surprise to those of us who actually know gay couples

sheesh

[No Elephants]

11. Don't be silly. Heterosexual couples could not be more different from homosexual couples.

In heterosexual couples, you have a male and a female (or so it may seem).

In homosexual couples, you have two males (or so it may seem) and two females (or so it may seem).

NOTHING ALIKE!!!111!!!!

Gessshhhhh. Do I have to point out everything to you people?

Sincerely,

Captain Obvious.


But, so damn what if homosexual couples were NOT like heterosexual couples? So what?

Are heterosexual couples so perfect that we all breathe a sigh of relief when we hear there is not much difference between heterosexual couples and homosexual couples?

What the hell is wrong with diversity? Haven't we always said diversity is what what made this country unique and great? The vast melting pot?

We don't have one kind of flower, one kind of tree, one kind of human being. We'd all die of boredom. So, why shouldn't we be able to embrace more than one kind of couple, more than one kind of relationship?

I raise this, in part, because, if this study is good news for gays and for gay marriage, then would a study "proving" something different--and we've all seen many contradictory studies--be bad new news for gays and gay marriage? If so, why?

Did anyone worry about whether African Americans were sociologically and demographically no different from whites before declaring Jim Crow laws unconstitutional?

The issue is not whether the kinds of couples are alike, but of human rights.

[Jester Messiah]

12. People are people. Amazing. /sarc [nt]