Colorado’s same-sex couple population sky rockets

The number of self-reported gay and lesbian Colorado couples jumped 60 percent during the last decade — triple the growth rate of all households in the state — and almost one fourth are raising children.

Analysis by Out Front Colorado and I-News, a Colorado-based nonprofit journalism collaborative, of 2010 Census data released Wednesday night shows more than 16,000 same-sex couples live in 63 of Colorado’s 65 counties and in 8 of every 1,000 households.

The new data, released months after a state House committee controlled by Republicans killed a bill that would establish civil unions for same-sex couples in Colorado and less than a week after New York became the sixth state to legalize gay marriage, will undoubtedly play a crucial role in 2012 when gay rights supporters plead their case for relationship recognition at the state Capitol.

Supporters of the civil union bill, sponsored by gay Denver Democrats Sen. Pat Steadman and Rep. Mark Ferrandino, argued thousands of Colorado families raising children need the protections the bill would create, including hospital visitation rights, adoption and dissolution.

According to data from the American Community Survey released in a Williams Institute Report during the civil union debate here, there were an estimated 12,558 same-sex couples in Colorado. That same study estimated about 3,500 of those couples would apply for civil unions. However, Republicans didn’t put much stock in that report, sources told Out Front Colorado.

Now, with a fixed number — 16,114 couples, 3,690 with children — backed by the Census, the number of couples likely to apply for civil unions is sure to increase, and the case for civil unions redoubled.

“This data is critical,” said Brad Clark executive director of the statewide LGBT advocacy group One Colorado. “It shows our community lives througout the entire state.”

Where we live

Well, almost the entire state.

Gay and lesbian couples live in every Colorado county except two — Jackson and San Juan — according to the Census.

Jackson County runs along the northern boarder of the state and is just east of Larimer. To the west is Routt.

San Juan County lies in the southwest corner of the state. It is just north of La Plata and south of Ourary. Other counties surrounding San Juan include Dolores, San Miguel and Hinsdale.

On average, gay and lesbian couples account for about 0.8 percent of all families. However, 1 percent of couples in Denver, Gilpin, Lincoln, Mineral, Ourary and Saguache counties are gay or lesbian.

Counties with the most gay and lesbian couples in descending order are: Denver (4,052),  Arapahoe (1,669), Jefferson (1,629), El Paso (1,550) and Adams (1,260).

While most same-sex couples live along the front rage, statistically, the ratio to heterosexual married couples is spread evenly across the state with high and low proportions in all geographical areas.

Three of the counties with the highest percentage of same-sex couples are in the southwest, two in metro-Denver and one on the eastern plains.

“These numbers re-enforce what we found through our research,” Clark said. “Equality is not isolated to just two parts of the state. Gay and lesbian Coloradans are facing issues of inequality in rural towns and urban centers.”

Families

Nationwide, counties that are more likely to have a higher proportion of same-sex parents (compared to non-parents) are traditionally rural and conservative, and lesbians are more likely to have children compared to gay men, according to the Williams Institute.

Those trend holds true in Colorado.

Census data has already been released for California, Delaware, Kansas, Pennsylvania and Wyoming. And the Williams Institute’s Gary Gates said the rural phenomenon is mostly due to one or more parent coming out late-in life coupled with fewer same-sex couples.

Counties with the highest proportion of same-sex couples to be raising children are: Rio Blanco (100 percent), Kit Carson (60 percent), Moffat (50 percent), Powers (46 percent), Phillips (44 percent).

Twenty three percent of same-sex couples statewide are raising children.

While Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties buck that trend — 27 percent of same-sex couples raise children there — Denver lowers the metro average with 15 percent of its same-sex couples raising children, one of the lowest in the entire state.

Across the state, 26 percent of lesbian couples are raising children compared to 18 percent of gay men.

The gang of six represents gays and lesbians, too

Clark said the Census data reaffirms the fact One Colorado attempted to make during the 2011 General Assembly: every lawmaker represent gay and lesbians couples.

“This data continues the story that gays and lesbian couples are denied the critical legal protections they deserve,” Clark said. “We know there are no legislatures that are isolated from constituents that need these protections.”

Six state House Republicans voted against the Colorado Civil Union Act when it appeared March 31 before their Judiciary Committee, effectively killing it.

Those six representatives — Brian DelGroso, B.J. Nikkel, Bob Gardner, Mark Baker, Mark Waller and Jerry Sonnenberg — denied approximately 3,068 families they collectively represent.

Del Grosso’s Larimer County has 827 same-sex couples.

Nikkel represent a portion of that county too, as well as Weld which has an additional 563 couples.

Sonnenberg’s district encompasses Weld, as well as Sedgwick, Phillips and Logan counties adding another 46 gay and lesbian families.

Meanwhile, Waller, Barker and Gardner represent El Paso County and its 1,550 gay and lesbian families.

Gardner also represents a portion of Fremont County that has 85 same-sex couples.

Clark said his organization is working to connect same-sex couples from every district with their lawmaker.

“These gay and lesbian families have the same hopes and dreams as any other family,” Clark said. “These numbers, they should reaffirm that.”

The I-News Network contributed to this story. I-News is a Colorado-based nonprofit journalism collaborative. Learn more at iNewsNetwork.org.