The Residential Segregation of Same-sex Partnered Households from Heterosexual Partnered Households in the U.S., 2008-2012

• In Event: 491 - Regular Session. Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender

Abstract

Most residential segregation research has focused on racial/ethnic minorities from the majority race/ethnic group in the United States and several other countries. Few analyses have focused on the spatial segregation of sexual minorities from the majority. Our paper we analyzes the segregation of gay and lesbian households from heterosexual households. There is a void in the literature about the extent to which gay and lesbian couples are residentially segregated from heterosexual couples. While there are some studies of “gay spaces” and enclaves, most are case studies of single cities (e.g., San Francisco) or analyses of gay enclaves and political force and activism. We use two dissimilarity measures of residential segregation with the same-sex partnering data from the American Community Surveys for 2008 through 2012 to calculate segregation scores for the 98 MSAs with the largest gay and lesbian populations. We show that there is a sizable amount of homosexual-heterosexual residential segregation. We also show that gay males are more segregated from heterosexuals than are lesbians. Our research contributes to the general literature on residential segregation by focusing on a non-racial minority that has heretofore received very little attention. Additionally, we compare a new measure of residential segregation, the Unbiased D index—specifically designed for dealing with comparisons when the size of one of groups in the areal units of the MSA is decidedly smaller than another of the groups, with the more traditionally used D Index.

Authors

• DLane R. Compton, University of New Orleans

• Dudley L. Poston, Texas A&M University

• Qian Xiong, Texas A&M University

• Emily Knox, Texas A&M University