Suchergebnisse

This research brief considers the historic impact of the US military's "Don't Ask/Don't Tell" (DADT) policy on women and racial/ethnic minorities. Enacted by the US Congress in 1993, Don't Ask/Don't Tell prohibits lesbian, gay, or bisexual men and women from disclosing their sexual orientation while they serve in the US military. Since 1993, more than 13,000 individuals have been discharged for violating the DADT policy. Data presented in this brief show that the proportion of women and racial/ethnic minorities among those discharges has increased over time. In the late 1990s approximately a quarter of discharges were women and similar proportions were racial/ethnic minorities. In recent years, those proportions have increased to more than a third of the DADT discharges.

The Irish government has announced its intention to enact a civil partnership law that would for the first time offer formal legal recognition to same-sex couples in the Republic of Ireland. The 2006 Irish Census revealed that there were 2,090 same-sex cohabiting couples in the country. Analyses of data from the United States Census Bureau suggest these are not the only couples who might avail themselves of civil partnership: • More than 1,200 Irish-born men and women are living with a same-sex partner in the United States. • They are predominantly female and highly educated. One in seven reports raising children. • Civil partnership legislation could provide economic benefits to Ireland, enticing some of these talented same-sex couples to relocate back to Ireland and making the country more competitive in the global creative economy.

This research brief quantifies how the United States military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) policy affects retention rates among lesbian, gay, and bisexual military personnel. If the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy had not been instituted, an estimated 4,000 lesbian, gay, and bisexual military personnel would have been retained each year since 1994. The military intends to add more than 18,000 new troops each year for the next five years. If patterns observed in 2004 were to continue for the next five years, the estimated retained LGB personnel would account for nearly one in six of the additional troops required.

Gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) voters may have a disproportionate impact in some key races in the upcoming election. An analysis of the GLB population in districts and states with competitive races shows the following: • In competitive House races with a Republican incumbent, an estimated 4.2 to 4.3 percent of adults are GLB, a figure above the national estimate of 4.1 percent and higher than proportions in tight races with an open seat or Democrat incumbent. • In Senate races with a Democrat incumbent, an estimated 4.5 percent of adults are GLB. • Among states with voter referenda that would ban marriage for same-sex couples, Arizona and Colorado have the highest proportions of GLB residents, 4.5 and 5.1 percent, respectively, and are the only two states with GLB population proportions above the national average.

While current United States immigration policy is based primarily on family reunification, it does not provide any rights for unmarried partners of citizens. In order to inform current legislative debates about expanding the policy of family reunification to include same-sex couples, this report provides a demographic and geographic portrait of bi-national same-sex "unmarried partners" from Census 2000.

Very little is known about the extent to which gay men and lesbians choose to serve their country through military service. This lack of knowledge contrasts with intense policy debates about the compatibility between homosexuality and service in the United States armed forces. Bayesian inference techniques applied to data from Census 2000 that enumerates characteristics of same-sex "unmarried partners" provide a mechanism for estimating the size of the gay and lesbian population currently serving in the military and exploring historical gay and lesbian military service patterns. Analyses suggest that rates of gay men and lesbians in current military service range from 1.32 to 3.78 percent, implying that at least 30,446 gay men and lesbians and as many as 87,202 are currently in uniform. The findings also show that gay men and, to an ever greater degree, lesbians have served in relatively large portions in all of the major military conflicts of the later 20th century.

Exit polls from the 2014 midterm election suggest that 4% of the electorate identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, representing the highest recorded LGB turnout in a midterm election since 1998. These LGB voters, 75% in fact, overwhelmingly supported Democratic candidates in key congressional races. If LGB people had not voted in the 2014 election, Virginia Senator Mark Warner and Vermont Governor Peter Chumlin would have both been defeated by their Republican challengers. The strong LGBT support for Democratic candidates becomes even more decisive during close races. This research brief considers the impact of the LGBT vote in the 2014 midterm election.

An estimated 150,000 transgender individuals have served in the U.S. armed forces, or are currently on active duty. In addition, an estimated 134,000 transgender individuals are veterans or are retired from Guard or Reserve service, 8,800 transgender adults are currently on active duty in the U.S. armed forces, and an estimated 6,700 transgender individuals are serving in the Guard or Reserve forces. Transgender individuals assigned female at birth are nearly three times more likely than all adult women, and those assigned male at birth are 1.6 times more likely than all adult men, to serve. The estimates are derived using data from the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey and the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, which was conducted by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality.

An estimated 1,018,700 or 3.7 percent of African-American adults consider themselves lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) and 34 percent of African-American same-sex couples are raising children. Currently, the estimated 84,000 African-American individuals in same-sex couples tend to live in areas where there are higher proportions of African-Americans. For example, a quarter of African-American same-sex couples live in Georgia, New York, North Carolina, and Maryland. The report finds overall higher unemployment rates (15 percent v. 12 percent) and lower proportions with a college degree (23 percent v. 26 percent) among LGBT African-Americans, when compared to their non-LGBT counterparts. However, these disadvantages are not present among African-Americans in same-sex couples. Twenty-five percent of African-Americans in same-sex couples have completed a college degree, compared to 22 percent of African-Americans in different-sex couples. In addition, 71 percent of African-Americans in same-sex couples are employed compared to 68 percent of their counterparts in different-sex couples. LGBT African-Americans are also less likely than their non-LGBT counterparts to have health insurance. African-American same-sex couples raising children, report household median incomes $15,000 lower than comparable African-American different-sex couples ($47,300 vs. $63,020). Female African-American same-sex couples, which comprise 58 percent of all African-American same-sex couples, earn over $20,000 less than male African-American same-sex couples. LGBT African-American females and African-American females in same-sex couples are three times more likely to report military service than their non-LGBT counterparts.

Much recent research on sexual minorities has used couples-based samples, which—by construction—provide no information on nonpartnered individuals. We present the first systematic empirical analysis of partnership and cohabitation among self-identified gay men and lesbians using two independent, large, population-wwbased data sources from California. These data indicate that 37%–46% of gay men and 51%–62% of lesbians aged 18–59 are in cohabiting partnerships (compared with 62% of heterosexual individuals in coresidential unions at comparable ages). Unlike previous research, we find that white and highly educated gay men and lesbians are more likely to be partnered, and we confirm that same-sex cohabiting partners in our data have demographic characteristics that are similar to California same-sex couples from Census 2000. We also present the first detailed analysis of officially registered domestic partnerships in California. We find that almost half of partnered lesbians are officially registered with the local or state government, while less than a quarter of partnered gay men are officially registered. We conclude with implications of our findings for couples-based research on gay men and lesbians, as well as recommendations for survey data collection.

House Bills 4188, 4189, and 4190 are proposed by members of the Michigan Legislature and would allow agencies licensed to make foster care or adoption placement decisions in the state of Michigan to do so in accordance with their own sincerely-held religious beliefs. If enacted, the state would be prohibited from denying or revoking a license based on the failure to comply with rules if the agency cites a religious or moral objection to the rules in a written policy or statement of faith. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals and same-sex couples could be among the potential foster or adoptive parents for whom placements could be refused under this proposed legislation. This memo provides estimates for the number of children being raised by LGB individuals and same-sex couples in Michigan, along with estimates of the potential fiscal implications if these bills cause children to stay longer in the foster care system rather than being placed for adoption.

CSHB 3864, if enacted, would allow agencies licensed to make foster care or adoption placement decisions in the state of Texas to do so in accordance with their own sincerely-held religious beliefs. The state would be prohibited from denying or revoking a license based on the failure to comply with rules if the agency cites a religious or moral objection to the rules. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals and same-sex couples could be among the potential foster or adoptive parents for whom placements could be refused under this proposed legislation. This memo provides estimates for the number of children being raised by LGB individuals and same-sex couples in Texas, along with estimates of the potential fiscal implications if this bill causes children to stay longer in the foster care system rather than being placed for adoption.

A large social science literature documents partnership rates and correlates of partnership among heterosexual individuals. This paper presents the first systematic empirical analysis of partnership, cohabitation, and official "domestic partner" registrations among self-identified gay men and lesbians using four independent, large, population based data sources, mostly in California. The data indicate that 30-45 percent of gay men are in a cohabiting partnership, while about 50-60 percent of lesbians are partnered. Across the four samples, white and highly educated gay men and lesbians are more likely to be partnered. We also find that almost half of partnered lesbians report being registered officially with the government, while fewer than a quarter of partnered gay men are registered. Of partnered gay men and lesbians, those who officially registered report longer relationship durations and are more likely to have ever been legally married. Overall, our results advance the literature on the determinants of household formation and provide the first estimates of factors associated with being officially registered in a same-sex domestic partnership.