Same-sex Couples by CMA

[eemy]

In one of my planning courses today, there was an interesting slide indicating the percentage of same-sex couples for CMA against population (from 2001 census). It is far less intuitive than I would have expected. As expected, the percentage increases with population, but the cities with the highest percentage of same-sex couples were not the ones I expected. Notable on the high end are Vancouver, Ottawa-Hull, and Victoria. Also notable were Sherbrooke and Thunder Bay(?!). Halifax seemed slightly higher than average. Montreal, Calgary and Winnipeg seemed to be about average. Now this is unexpected: Toronto is below the line of best fit meaning it has fewer same-sex couples than expected for a city its size. Also in this category are Hamilton and Edmonton.

Now, Toronto is generally considered, along with Montreal, the gay mecca of Canada. Apparently same-sex couples don't agree, perhaps settling down in slower paced cities like Victoria and Ottawa. I suppose age could also influence things as gay couples are likely to be older. Anyway, here's the graph:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/180/368307882_d1ce711bf9_o.jpg

[habsfan]

ummmm.... i don,t see it!?!

[habsfan]

cool now I see it!

[habsfan]

maybe i'm not reading the graph correctly, but Montreal is definately above average, and so are Victoria, Vancouver and Ottawa-Gatineau. Québec City is also slightly above average whereas Toronto, Calgary, Halifax and Sherbrooke are just below the Canadian Average!

[eemy]

Well, I guess what is of interest here is the percentage of people as a function of population, not the raw average. So, the tendancy is that a smaller town will have a lower percentage than a larger city because gay people tend to congregate in cities (for various reasons). There is a linear relationship (not extremely strong, but clearly present) between population and percentage of same-sex couples. As such, while Sherbrooke has a lower percentage of same-sex couples than Montreal, for its population, the percentage is much higher than expected. You can see which cities fall above and below the expected percentage by estimating a line of best fit (unfortunately there wasn't one added to this graph) for the points on the graph.

[habsfan]

thanks!

[vid]

Thunder Bay is a bull-dyke mecca. :) Seriously! We even had one as a mayor once. If you're fat, lesbian, and like flannel, Thunder Bay is where it's at!

If this is going by marriage licenses issued, our proximity to Duluth (another 'gay mecca' on a small scale) would probably contribute, with many same sex couples coming to the city to get marriage. I know it was in the paper a fair bit, we had people coming from as far away as Northern Texas to get hitched. :P We're kinda the closest city for them to do that, just shoot straight up I-35 and you're here in a day.

But yeah, lot's of bull-dykes here.

[PhilippeMtl]

Fabulous!

[Kilgore Trout]

one factor to consider is that, in all likelihood, the number of same-sex couples was probably undercounted in the 2001 census.

also, a city's number of same-sex couples does not necessarily correspond with its gay and lesbian population.

[SteelTown]

Like vid said about Thunder Bay Hamilton is very dykey probably mostly because of the blue collar jobs that seem to attract butchy lesbians here. You know the sterotypical overweight mullet hair style with boots and lumber jack shirts.

But I have noticed a trend happening here with gay couples from Toronto moving to Hamilton. I think when gay couples get older they tend to leave the gay villages and try to camouflage into a typical neighbourhoods. But it seems gay couples love Victorian homes to renovate. I know 2 gay couples that moved from Toronto to Hamilton to settle down within the year.

[WhipperSnapper]

"also, a city's number of same-sex couples does not necessarily correspond with its gay and lesbian population."

some cities also tend to have a higher precentage of coupling than others (regardless of preference)

[Rob D]

It will be interesting to see the statistics from the 2006 census since same sex marriage became a reality at different times between the two census periods. Some of my friends who previously did not identify themselves as same sex couples in the 2001 census prior to the marriage laws being changed did so in the 2006 census even though they were still not "married". Their relationship status had not changed but their attitude toward publicly declaring it did.