Census data shows large increase in New York same-sex households

A report released by UCLA’s Williams Institute shows a forty percent increase in households headed by same-sex couples in New York state over the last ten years. In the 2010 census, more than 65,000 households reported as same-sex couples, or about nine out of every 1,000 homes in the state.

“My hunch, based on past census data reporting, is that people feel dramatically more comfortable giving a true report of their household composition,” Lis Maurer, LGBT program director at Ithaca College, said.

While the data reveals a snapshot of the makeup of families in New York and nationwide, Maurer cautions the numbers may not paint the whole picture.

“The census asks about same sex people who live in couples together. So it’s not a count of all the LGBT people in the state or in America. It’s only a count of those couples who live together in a relationship and are willing to be known as such. And so I think the numbers are very helpful, and very powerful. And they have limits.”

[via YNN]