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Media Contacts:
Brad Sears (310) 794-5279 sears@law.ucla.edu
Gary J. Gates (310) 825-1868 gates@law.ucla.edu

Today, the Williams Project at UCLA School of Law released a new research study showing that over 13,000 Asian/Pacific Islanders (APIs) identified themselves as living with a same-sex partner in California during Census 2000. They constitute over one-third of the 38,200 Asian/Pacific Islanders in same-sex couples identified in the U.S., more than in any other state.

The study also shows that more than half of California’s API same-sex couples are raising children--over 5,600 children under 18--and that these families face the same economic difficulties as other API families in the State.

Gary J. Gates, co-author of the report and Senior Research Fellow at the Williams Project on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy said, “Census 2000 data quantify that Asian/Pacific Islanders represent a significant portion of California’s gay and lesbian families. Many API same-sex couples, especially those with children, are economically vulnerable, especially as they lack the support and protections that marriage provides to other California families.”

Other key new findings of the study, Asian/Pacific Islanders in Same-Sex Couples in California: Data from Census 2000, include:

• Twenty-eight percent of California API same-sex partners report Filipino heritage. Sizable proportions of API same-sex partners are also of Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Korean, Asian Indian, Cambodian, and Taiwanese origin.

• San Francisco County has the highest rate of API same-sex couples (API householder) (2.2 per 1,000 households), while Los Angeles County has the largest number of API same-sex couples (1,929).

• API same-sex couples are much more likely to live in API communities in California than gay and lesbian communities.

• In terms of their demographic and socio-economic profile, APIs in same-sex couples look very similar to their counterparts in different-sex couples. They differ little in terms of citizenship, military service, income, education, rates of public assistance, and rates of employment.

• There are more than 4,000 API children being raised by same-sex couples in California. Seventy-seven percent of these children are being raised by two API parents and 94% have at least one API parent.

• In California, API same-sex parents are raising their children with fewer resources than different-sex parents (both API and non-API). The impact of ethnicity and sexual orientation on families' incomes can best be seen when comparing API same-sex couples with non-API different-sex couples. Parents in API same-sex couples have annual household incomes that are, on average, more than $10,000 less than non-API parents in different-sex couples.

The full text of the Williams Project study, including Executive Summaries in Filipino, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese and English, can be accessed at http://www.law.ucla.edu/willamsproject. The study is the second of three studies analyzing Census 2000 data about Latino/as, Asian and Pacific Islanders, and African-Americans in same-sex couples in California. This series of studies was made possible through a generous grant by the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Foundation.