A report released in November 2007 by the Williams Institute for Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law states that the number of same-sex couples shacking up in the U.S. quadrupled since 1990.

The increases are highest in Mountain, Midwest and Southern states—you know, the conservative ones.

In the year 2000, there were 600,000 selfproclaimed same-sex couples; in 2006, there were 777,000. In 2006, of the eight states that had an initiative on the ballot to ban same-sex marriage, six of them had increases of more than 30 percent the national rate.

Gary Gates, the author of the study and a Senior Research Fellow at the Williams Institute, says one of the biggest reasons for the increase is that more same-sex couples are comfortable identifying as such.

This study, along with the Gay and Lesbian Consumer Index and Human Rights Campaign’s “Buying for Equality” shopping guide, shows a probability that more lesbian and gay voters will show up at the polls in November.