"We Were Always There..."

According to The Washington Post:

About one in five gay and lesbian couples is raising children under age 18. One in 10 men with a male partner or spouse is a military veteran. As many as 6 million Americans, roughly 2 percent of the population, have a parent who is lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT).

These nuggets of demographic insight into same-sex couples were contained in an amicus brief filed in connection with cases before the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of California’s gay marriage ban and the Defense of Marriage Act.

A decade ago, such precise statistics were impossible to come by. Even now, many of the numbers commonly used to shape government policies are, for gays and lesbians, nonexistent.

But as gays become more visible in politics, demographic research into lesbians and gays is emerging from the shadows. Some gay advocates say it’s time for surveys to ask people their sexual orientation point-blank.

Read the rest of the article here: The Washington Post

I've always suspected that the one in ten number we've often heard cited in the past was too big and was merely the result of our human tendency to round up to the nearest ten.  As recent research seems to suggest, we are probably about 5-6% of the population.   

As for our apparently uneven distribution across the country, I suspect it's mostly under reporting in areas of the country where being openly gay is more difficult.  But I also know that we do tend to concentrate ourselves in areas where we find more acceptance and freedom (New England and the West coast).  It's very telling that Iowa (where marriage equality prevails) is the only state in it's region to report in the highest percentiles.  

As marriage equality and the protection of our civil rights becomes the law of the land, I'm sure more and more of us will become comfortable enough and able to be who we are and self-identify ourselves and be counted.  This is a good thing, as the truth does set you free, and...

"Fear Eats the Soul"