Openly Gay Pop in the US booming; Utah soars from 38th to 14th "Gayest" State

[dimondpark]

An interesting look at Gay Demographics in the US. Times are changing in some of the most unlikely places.

Mountain states such as New Mexico and Colorado now rate among the nation's "gayest" states, ranking 2nd and 9th in the concentration of same-sex couples. Utah, where President Bush received more than 70% of the vote in 2004, has moved from 38th in 1990 to 14th in the most recent rankings.

The bellwether state might be Utah. In 2005, Salt Lake City approved a benefits programs for lesbian and gay couples. Identifying openly as gay no longer represents an honor code violation at Brigham Young University. And, perhaps most striking, the state now has three openly gay state legislators. That's one more then the US Congress. Shades of purple ?

Top 10 states
The data, from the 2006 American Community Survey, reflects the number of same-sex couple households per 1,000 households by state.
1 Vermont 9.71
2 New Mexico 9.03
3 Massachusetts 8.99
4 Washington 8.94
5 Oregon 8.83
6 New Hampshire 8.73
7 Maine 8.57
8 California 8.50
9 Colorado 7.79
10 Rhode Island 7.63

Top 10 cities
The data, from the 2006 American Community Survey, reflects the number of same-sex couple households per 1,000 households in the top 50 most populous cities.
1 San Francisco 28.72
2 Seattle 21.27
3 Minneapolis 18.68
4 Portland 16.945
5 Sacramento 16.36
6 Oakland 15.62
7 Boston 14.72
8 Washington 13.49
9 Atlanta 13.32
10 Long Beach 12.80

National change
Same-sex couples per 1,000 households:
1990 1.56
2000 5.61
2006 6.79

http://www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinst...BriefFinal.pdf