Florida saw a jump from some 40,000 reported same-sex households in 2000, an increase of more than 50 percent, during the 2010 census, data released Aug. 18 shows. While that jump is significant, experts suggested that exact numbers may be inaccurate because not all same-sex couples may have reported honestly on census forms.
In fact, annual Census Bureau estimates already suggest the greatest increases in reported same-sex couples in the state to be in areas of largely conservative Northern Florida where social stigma previously kept many gays in the closet.
The same-sex household numbers have been among the most eagerly awaited of the 2010 Census, in part because for the first time they reflect how many gay couples are raising children. Later this year, the Census Bureau will report another firstâ┚¬â€Âhow many same-sex couples report being married. This is the third Census in which the bureau has enumerated same-sex couples, but the first since a few statesâ┚¬â€Âwhich do not include Floridaâ┚¬â€Âbegan allowing same-sex couples to get married.
Early indicators show a large number of same-sex couples in Florida got married in other states since marriage became legal in that handful of states, beginning with Massachusetts in 2004.
Reports show that a majority of the Sunshine State's same-sex couples live in South Florida, with slightly more than 9,000 in Broward County and nearly 7,400 in Miami-Dade. Orange County has the third-highest number of gay couples in the state with 4,751.
Pinellas and Hillsborough counties has the fifth- and sixth-highest numbers of same-sex couples in the state, respectively, with Hillsborough showing 4,376 same-sex couples residing in the county and Pinellas showing slightly more with 4,438. That's a jump of nearly 2,000 couples per county in Tampa Bay.
In Sarasota County, same-sex households jumped by about 600, with a reported 1,507 households identifying as same-sex. Pasco County reported similar numbers, with 1,447 same-sex households in 2010.
Male couples outnumber female couples. Additionally, about a fifth of the state's same-sex couples are raising children.
