Gay and Lesbian Partnership: Evidence from California

Much recent research on sexual minorities has used couples-based samples, which-by construction-provide no information on nonpartnered individuals. We present the first systematic empirical analysis of partnership and cohabitation among self-identified gay men and lesbians using two independent, lar...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Demography 2008-08, Vol.45 (3), p.573-590
Main Authors: Carpenter, Christopher, Gates, Gary J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
California
Censuses
Cohabitation
Collaboration
Couples
Data Collection
Demographics
Demography
Domestic partners
Estimates
Family Characteristics
Female
Gays & lesbians
Gays and lesbians
Geography
Heterosexuality
Homosexuality, Female
Homosexuality, Male
Homosexuals
Humans
Interviews as Topic
Lesbianism
Living arrangements
Male
Male homosexuality
Marital status
Medicine/Public Health
Middle Aged
Minority & ethnic groups
Partners
Polls & surveys
Population
Population Economics
Residence Characteristics - statistics & numerical data
Same sex marriage
Sexual behavior
Sexual orientation
Single status
Social relations
Social Sciences
Sociology
State government
Studies
Survey data
Tobacco
U.S.A
Unmarried persons
Young Adult
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Much recent research on sexual minorities has used couples-based samples, which-by construction-provide no information on nonpartnered individuals. We present the first systematic empirical analysis of partnership and cohabitation among self-identified gay men and lesbians using two independent, large, population-wwbased data sources from California. These data indicate that 37%-46% of gay men and 51%-62% of lesbians aged 18-59 are in cohabiting partnerships (compared with 62% of heterosexual individuals in coresidential unions at comparable ages). Unlike previous research, we find that white and highly educated gay men and lesbians are more likely to be partnered, and we confirm that same-sex cohabiting partners in our data have demographic characteristics that are similar to California same-sex couples from Census 2000. We also present the first detailed analysis of officially registered domestic partnerships in California. We find that almost half of partnered lesbians are officially registered with the local or state government, while less than a quarter of partnered gay men are officially registered. We conclude with implications of our findings for couples-based research on gay men and lesbians, as well as recommendations for survey data collection.
ISSN:0070-3370
1533-7790
DOI:10.1353/dem.0.0014