By Tara Cavanaugh
Four Michigan cities are listed among the 25 cities with the highest same-sex couple population, according to a recent analysis from the Williams Institute. The institute has used U.S. census data to analyze same-sex couple populations since 1990.
The institute ranked cities by how many same-sex couples were present per 1,000 households in small, medium and large cities. In Michigan, there are 5.6 same-sex couples per 1,000 households on average. Lansing has 12.34 same-sex couples per 1,000 households; Ann Arbor has 11.9. Lansing was listed 19th and Ann Arbor was listed 23rd on the 25 most populated mid-size cities for same-sex couples. The institute defined mid-size cities as those with populations between 100,000 and 250,000.
Pleasant Ridge and Ferndale made the list for most same-sex couples in small-sized cities that have less than 100,000 residents. Pleasant Ridge was listed seventh, with 59.55 same-sex couples per 1,000 households. Ferndale was listed 25th, with 35.06 same-sex couples per 1,000 households.
Gary Gates, a scholar at the Williams Institute, a think tank affiliated with the University of California Los Angeles, said the same-sex couple population jumped 50 percent across the country, with some states showing increases as high as 88 percent, such as the state of Montana.
Gates did not think that the increase was due to an actual increase in couples; rather, he thought the increase shows "how big the closet was" ten years ago.
