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UCLA’s Williams Project Releases New Study on Bi-National Same-Sex Unmarried Partners
Nearly 36,000 same-sex couples in the United States are bi-national.

October 27, 2005

Media Contact: Gary Gates, Ph D
Phone: 310.825.1868
Email: gates@law.ucla.edu

There are an estimated 35,820 bi-national same-sex couples living in the United States, according to a new study released today by the Williams Project on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at UCLA School of Law. These couples represent 6% of all same-sex “unmarried partner” couples counted in Census 2000.

The Uniting American Families Act, proposed in Congress this year, would provide same-sex couples with the immigration rights of their different-sex married counterparts. Current U.S. immigration law, which prioritizes family reunification, allows U.S. citizens to naturalize their foreign-born spouses. However, this right does not extend to unmarried different-sex or same-sex couples.

The Williams Project study reveals that in 79% of bi-national same-sex couples in the U.S., the non-citizen partner also comes from a country that does not provide immigration rights to same-sex couples. For these couples, neither partner lives in a county that allows the other partner to immigrate based on their relationship.

Gary J. Gates, author of the report and Senior Research Fellow at the Williams Project, said, “Census 2000 data indicate that a larger percentage of same-sex couples than different-sex couples are bi-national. These couples are at risk for separation if both partners cannot get legal status either in the United States or their native countries.”

Other key findings of the report, Bi-National Same-Sex Unmarried Partners in Census 2000: A demographic portrait, include:

• A larger percentage of same-sex couples (6%) than different-sex unmarried (5.2%) or married (4.6%) couples are bi-national. If the Uniting American Families Act were to pass and same-sex couples behaved as their married counterparts, then approximately 8,500 same-sex couples would likely seek immigration rights for the non-citizen partner.

• Mexico is the home country for 30% (10,766) of the non-citizens in same-sex bi-national couples, with Canada, El Salvador, Germany, and the Philippines as the next highest countries of origin.

• Thirty-eight percent of bi-national same-sex couples are comprised of a foreign born non-citizen and a foreign born U.S. citizen, with the non-citizen and citizen sharing the same country of origin in 82% of couples. In short, over 30% of all bi-national same-sex couples in the U.S. are comprised of partners who were both born in the same foreign country.

• California ranks first in the total number of same-sex bi-national couples, with more than 10,000 such couples.

• Among bi-national couples, more than a third of male same-sex couples and 58% of female same-sex couples report having children under age 18 in the home.

The full text of the Williams Project study can be accessed at http://www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute.