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Media images of lesbians and gay men create the impression that most of them are white urban dwellers who have high incomes and whose main preoccupations are shopping for expensive clothes, preparing gourmet food, or eating at upscale restaurants. Only occasionally do we hear about the estimated quarter million children being raised by same sex couples. As a result, a variety of stereotypes and misconceptions exist about lesbian and gay families. Here’s a quiz to test your knowledge about this population. 1. What percentage of same-sex couples are raising children in the United States?
2. In which state are same-sex couples most likely to be raising children?
3. What percentage of children being raised by same-sex couples are non-white?
4. The median household income of different-sex married couples aged 25-55 with children in the U.S. is $60,700. What is the comparable figure of similarly aged same-sex couples raising children?
5. Different-sex married couples (aged 25-55) with children have an average of 2 children per household. On average, how many children do similarly aged same-sex couples have?
6. Which of the following statements are true?
ANSWER KEY 1. Answer: d. 27 percent More than one in four of the nearly 600,000 same-sex couples identified in the U.S. census have a child under the age of 18 living in the home with them. Source: Gary J. Gates and Jason Ost, The Gay and Lesbian Atlas, Urban Institute Press, 2004. www.urban.org/gayatlas 2. Answer: c. Mississippi Among the nearly 2,000 same-sex couples in Mississippi, as many as four in ten (41 percent) are raising children under age 18. Other states with high rates of child-rearing among same-sex couples include South Dakota (40 percent), Alaska (38 percent), South Carolina (36 percent) and Louisiana (35 percent). Far from being an urban or coastal phenomenon, same-sex couples raising children are found in 96 percent of all counties in the United States. Three of the five large metropolitan areas with the highest rate of child-rearing among same-sex couples are found in Texas. San Antonio, Houston, and Fort Worth rank 1st, 4th, and 5th respectively. Bergen-Passaic, NJ and Memphis, TN rank 2nd and 3rd. In all of those areas, at least one in three same-sex couples are raising children. Source: Gary J. Gates and Jason Ost, The Gay and Lesbian Atlas, Urban Institute Press, 2004. www.urban.org/gayatlas 3. Answer: c. 45 percent The children of same-sex couples are much more racially and ethnically diverse than those being raised by different-sex married couples. Among the children of same-sex couples, 55 percent are white, 23 percent are Latino/a, 15 percent are Black, 3 percent are Asian/Pacific Islander, 1 percent are Native American, the remaining 3 percent identified as some other racial category or as multi-racial. Thus 45 percent of these children are non-white compared to 30 percent of the children of different-sex married parents. This racial and ethnic diversity among the children reflects similar diversity among their parents. While 73 percent of different-sex married couples (age 25-55) with children are white, only 59 percent of their same-sex coupled counterparts identify as white. Thus, same-sex parents are more racially and ethnically diverse than their different-sex counterparts and their children are even more diverse. Source: R. Bradley Sears, Gary J. Gates, and William B. Rubenstein, Same-sex Couples and Same-sex Couples Raising Children in the United States: Data from Census 2000, The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, 2005. http://www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute/publications/USReport.pdf 4. Answer: b. $51,900 Same-sex couples with children in the U.S. have fewer economic resources to provide for their children than do their different-sex married counterparts. They have lower household incomes, are less educated, are less likely to own a home, and live in homes of lesser value. Source: R. Bradley Sears, Gary J. Gates, and William B. Rubenstein, Same-sex Couples and Same-sex Couples Raising Children in the United States: Data from Census 2000, The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, 2005. http://www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute/publications/USReport.pdf 5. Answer: b. 1.9 Same-sex couples with children have about the same number of children as their different-sex married counterparts. Source: R. Bradley Sears, Gary J. Gates, and William B. Rubenstein, Same-sex Couples and Same-sex Couples Raising Children in the United States: Data from Census 2000, The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, 2005. http://www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute/publications/USReport.pdf 6. Answer: Only b. is true. a. False. Adoption rates are higher among same-sex couples than among different-sex couples (6 percent v. 4 percent), but the vast majority of children living with same-sex couples were identified as “natural born” in the U.S. Census. Source: R. Bradley Sears, Gary J. Gates, and William B. Rubenstein, Same-sex Couples and Same-sex Couples Raising Children in the United States: Data from Census 2000, The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, 2005. http://www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute/publications/USReport.pdf b. True. Research on the impact of gay and lesbian parents on their children is relatively new and studies tend to be small and focused on subjects that are predominantly white and of relatively high economic status. However, findings across these studies are remarkably consistent in showing no negative consequences for children being raised by lesbian and gay parents with regard to standard child well-being measures. Source: Judith Stacey and Timothy Biblarz, “(How) does the sexual orientation of parents matter?”, American Sociological Review, Vol. 66 (2), 2001. c. False. About two-thirds of the quarter-million children being raised by same-sex couples counted in Census 2000 live in states that do not guarantee same-sex parents the right to petition courts for a second-parent adoption. Such adoptions ensure that both partners have legal status as parents. This status is important for a variety of reasons, including ensuring that either parent can make needed medical decisions for the child in an emergency situation. Source: Lisa Bennett and Gary J. Gates, The Cost of Marriage Inequality to Children and Their Same-Sex Parents, Human Rights Campaign Foundation, 2004. www.hrc.org/childrenreport
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