UCLA report finds nearly half of same-sex couples in US now married
By April Hoang
Nov. 6, 2015 4:47 p.m.
UCLA researchers released a report Thursday which found 45 percent of all same-sex couples in the United States are now married, compared to 21 percent in 2013.
Gary Gates, research director at the Williams Institute, and Taylor Brown, a policy analyst at the Williams Institute, analyzed the impact of court rulings that legalized same-sex marriages in the United States. The Windsor v. United States decision in 2013 required the federal government to recognize state-sanctioned same-sex marriages, and the Obergefell v. Hodges decision in 2015 guaranteed the right to marry for same-sex couples in all states.
The Windsor decision was instrumental in the increase to same-sex marriage by 52 percent from 2013 to 2014, according to the analyses.
Gates said the rate of increase has been more rapid since the Obergefell decision.
Prior to the Obergefell decision, same-sex marriages made up 6.4 percent of all new marriages in the United States. After the ruling, the number rose to 11.2 percent in the past four months, or 96,000 marriages.
This is the first estimate of its kind being done on the number of same-sex marriages since the June Supreme Court legislation, Gates said.
“There is an increase in same-sex couples in the United States that has never been seen before prior to the ruling,” he said.
According to the report, marriage can improve well-being in families because of increased health and stability benefits. About one in four same-sex couples have children who are under the age of 18. In addition, marriage provides them with access to health insurance and second-parent adoption, when a same-sex parent adopts their partner’s child without causing the first parent to lose parental rights.
Out of 275,000 adults surveyed by Gallup, almost 9,000 identified as either lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. On Oct. 15, Facebook released a study stating that both public support and the rate of people coming out on Facebook have been expanding in the past year, in part due to the Obergefell ruling. Gates said he believes more people will feel comfortable identifying themselves as LGBT in the future, because of increased support from the Obergefell decision.
The report estimates that public support for same-sex marriage in the United States will continue to grow in 2016, reaching at least 40 percent in every state.
Compiled by April Hoang, Bruin contributor.
