In April, I made the point that figuring out "where we are" depends on a variety of factors. In that post, I provided information about current research on cities with high numbers of gay and lesbian couples and included advice about how best to consider geographic targeting programs to reach segments of our community.
A new study released yesterday gives me an opportunity to talk about this topic again with new data. Advocate.com is this week reporting on the release of a fascinating new study from the Williams Institute for Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at UCLA that documents “a gay demographic explosion” in the Midwest, Mountain and Southern states. Study author Gary Gates analyzed information from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey to determine that the number of same-sex couples in the U.S. has quadrupled since 1990, growing at a rate 21 times that of the population.
Again according to Advocate.com, Gates’ analysis found remarkable increases in:
- The South Central states of Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee where the number of same-sex couples increased by 863% from 1990 to 2006
- The Mountain states of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Montana, Utah, Nevada, and Idaho where the number of same-sex couples increased by 698%
- The Upper Midwest states of Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin where the number of same-sex couples increases were 55 times larger than general population increases
These numbers are certainly dramatic, and they underscore the point (again) that we are everywhere. That’s definitely a good thing and I’m all for information that helps to quantify who we are and where we live, particularly when it makes the point that we’re a diverse and growing community. However, I think it’s important not to read too much into these numbers. Although I’m neither a demographer nor statistician, I think we should consider the following in reviewing this study:
- The numbers are only as reflective as the number of people willing to provide them. The rapid shift in societal acceptance of LGBT people over the past sixteen years has likely fueled at least some of the reporting increases (a point the study makes as well). In some cases, we may have been in these places for a long time, but we weren’t comfortable telling others that fact until recently. So, instead of just a shift of population (meaning we’re all moving to new places), this study might also indicate a shift of willingness to self-identify. That’s still an important development, but it has a different meaning than an assumption that same-sex couples are packing up and moving to cities like Mobile, Boise or Flint in large numbers. At least some of us may have been in those places all along.
- The study is focused on same-sex couples which means that the number of single gay men and lesbians (not to mention bisexual and transgender people as well) are not counted. I would bet that there are still large numbers of single gay men and lesbians and bisexuals and transgender people in some of the more “traditional” gayborhoods of large cities and gay-friendly suburban areas.
There’s a lot of really good information in this new study (including the finding that the number of same-sex couples reporting themselves as unmarried partners has quintupled since 1990 from 145,000 to nearly 780,000), and I’m sure we’ll be using it in helping our clients develop outreach programs. But I also know that we’ll use it as part of a broader set of data that provides deeper insight into where we are and how to reach us.
My advice to marketers and others considering the results of this survey? Use these numbers as further proof that you need to do your homework before you develop programs targeting specific segments of our community. Know that we are diverse and that as society evolves and changes more of us will be more comfortable in identifying ourselves.
Determining where to go to reach us still depends on what you’re trying to accomplish and who you want to reach. Studies such as this one are a wonderful resource, but they should be matched with additional data and used to develop a sound strategy that will help you achieve the objectives of your specific program.
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I find this brief from “The Atlantic” to be an enlightening perspective on this topic (which seems so obvious to me):
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The gay population of Nebraska jumped 71 percent between 2000 and 2005, to a total of 43,000, according to a new analysis of Census Bureau figures. In Kansas, the number of people who said they were gay rose 68 percent, and in Iowa, the increase was 58 percent. Gays are not flocking to rural states, demographers say; rather those already there are more willing to acknowledge their sexuality.
“The Atlantic Monthly” as reported in “The Week”