Census Figures Show Increase
in Same-Sex Households

by Paul Olsen

BURLINGTON — Recently released U.S.Census data show a 422% increase in the number of same-sex partner households inVermont. Census figures revealed 1,171 households headed by female couples and762 households headed by male couples. Vermont’s total population is justabove 608,000.

Early last year, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) and Human RightsCampaign (HRC), both Washington DC based gay advocacy groups, joined forces tolaunch the “Make Your Family Count” educational campaign designed toencourage same-sex couples living in the same household to mark the“Unmarried Partners” option on the 2000 census form.

Dan Berns and Jay Schuster of Richmond said they didn’t think twice aboutchecking off the “unmarried partners” box. “We’re civilunioned so we thought that that was the appropriate box,” Berns said. “It was an easy decision for us.”

HRC representatives welcomed Vermont’s new census figures. “Thesefigures represent a very positive trend,” said David M. Smith, HRC’scommunications director. “In our opinion, the increase reveals more andmore couples are willing to identify themselves as same-sex partners in a federalsurvey, but many continue to fear a backlash from anti-gay policies at thefederal level, and continued societal anti-gay bias.”

In spite of the fact that the number of same-sex partner households in Vermontincreased from 370 in 1990 to 1,933 in 2000 and 88% percent of Vermont’s 251towns had same-sex partner couples living in them, many gay and lesbian activistsbelieve that the new figures underestimate the true number of same-sex partnerhouseholds in the state.

“That’s got to be a low estimate,” said Keith Goslant, arepresentative of the Vermont Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights. “Ithink that we as a community, despite all of the advances that we have made inVermont, are still a little apprehensive telling governmental agencies who we areand how to find us. I’ve had (civil union) couples calling me asking meabout residency requirements because they didn’t want their actual addressput on the license. People are concerned about what it is that willultimatelyhappen with that information.”

Goslant also said that he felt the government didn’t try to get an accurate countof gay and lesbian households. “I don’t think the government really had aninvestment in trying to identify us,” he said. “We felt we were going to beunderrepresented because there really wasn’t going to be a mechanism toadequately identify who we were as couples. The census form didn’t ask therelationship between the two people.”

Like Goslant, Dykes to Watch Out For cartoonist Alison Bechdel questionsthe accuracy of the census data. “Press articles have not addressed thepossibility that a census could be inaccurate in any way especially when there isa stigma attached to what you might check,” she said.

Bechdel and her partner, who checked “unmarried partner,” live in Bolton, Vt., atown the census identified as having the highest number of same-sex partnerhouseholds in Chittenden County, the state’s largest county that includesBurlington. “Bolton is a small town and coincidentally there is a number of gaypeople there,” she said. “So it’s easy to skew the statistics.” Ten out ofBolton’s 386 households were identified as same-sex.

While many people believe the census figures regarding the number of same-sexpartner households in Vermont are low, Beth Robinson, an attorney whosuccessfully sued the state in the landmark Baker vs. Vermont gay marriagelawsuit, had a slightly different view of data. “The figures were low but thereality is it doesn’t matter whether there are 1,900 or 19,000 same-sex couplesin Vermont. What matters is that we are part of this community. We work hard,pay our taxes, contribute to the community, and deserve to be treated equally. That’s true regardless of how many of us there are.”