Texas Has Largest Amount of Gay Families With Children
Edge
by Gena Hymowech
October 17, 2006

Gay and looking for a good place to raise your kids? You might want to consider Texas.

It may sound crazy, but a study in The Gay and Lesbian Atlas concludes that San Antonio, a major Texas city, has the largest amount of queer couples with kids in America. (The Houston and Fort Worth-Arlington areas rank fourth and fifth respectively.) The subjects of the study were kids being brought up by at least one biological parent, and children who were adopted by gay couples, according to the Associated Press.

The Gay and Lesbian Atlas is "considered the most comprehensive demographic look at where same-sex couples are distributed across the nation," says the Houston Chronicle. The AP also noted that The Gay and Lesbian Atlas study was based on the most current US census data.

But the big question is: why has Texas become such a hot spot for gay families? "One explanation is that minority same-sex couples are more likely to have children than white same-sex couples," according to the AP. "Study author Gary J. Gates says Texas’ large Hispanic population might partially explain why its gay couples are more likely to have children."

The Chronicle spoke to members of several gay families in Houston. Baby Djojonegoro, a gay, partnered mother, told the paper that while Houston "does have the stereotype of the cowboy town... it has pockets of interesting, nonmainstream culture and people."

Still, that doesn’t mean it’s always easy to raise kids in the state. The Chronicle article also quoted a teen named Chloe Tippet, a child being raised by two lesbians, who has seen a peer’s sexuality questioned simply because he supports gay marriage. "I guess some people think that anybody who thinks that gays and lesbians should have rights must be a gay or lesbian person...." Tippet told the paper.