Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Making us count: Chicago queer couples in the census
Part 2 of a series
by Joseph Erbentraut, Windy City Times
2011-04-20

This article shared 6579 times since Wed Apr 20, 2011
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


As the community anticipates the summer release of U.S. Census Bureau data on same-sex couples as reported in last year's decennial census, Windy City Times is running the second part of our series analyzing existing data from the "mini-census" American Community Surveys as it pertained to self-reporting same-sex couple-led households across the state of Illinois. [ See the April 20 issue of Windy City Times for part one. ]

This part two, we dig deeper into ACS data pertaining specifically to the city of Chicago. Just as the statewide analysis shed light on queer communities spread across a wide geographical expanse, our analysis continues to challenge the stereotype that LGBTQ people live exclusively in the most urban, glitzy parts of the state or, in this case, the city.

That said, much like last week's finding that half of the state's estimated 25,710 "unmarried partner households" ( as they are labeled by the Census bureau ) can be found in Cook County, a large portion ( 37.1 percent ) of the city's unmarried partner households are estimated to be located in the four northernmost Lakefront-adjacent community areas.

Perhaps expectedly, Lakeview leads the way among the city's 77 designated community areas—identified by the University of Chicago's Social Research Committee, in terms of its total number of estimated same-sex couple-led households. Lakeview is home to 1,106 such households, or 12 percent of the city total, followed by Edgewater ( 951, 10.3 percent ) , Rogers Park ( 736, 8 percent ) and Uptown ( 635, 6.9 percent ) . These are only self-reporting same-sex couple-led households.

When these four community areas are combined with their nearest neighbors to the west—West Ridge, Lincoln Square and North Center—the seven combined community areas still account for just less than half ( 46.4 percent ) of the city's total, indicating that any North Side-centric story about LGBTQ Chicagoans is, indeed, only telling ( less than ) half of the story of the city's queer communities.

Significant enclaves of queer households can also be found on the city's West and South Sides. Three of the top 10 community areas with the highest total of same-sex couple-led households are found on the Near West Side—namely West Town ( including Wicker Park and Ukrainian Village ) , Logan Square and Near West ( including Little Italy and the University of Illinois-Chicago campus ) . When accompanied with its adjacent-to-the-north neighbor, the up-and-coming Avondale neighborhood, the four areas make up 12.6 percent of the city's total.

Five lakefront-bordering areas on the city's South Side also account for a significant portion of the city's total estimate of queer couple-led households. Between the areas of Kenwood, Hyde Park, Woodlawn, South Shore and South Chicago, an estimated 5.9 percent of the city's total live.

When reported as a percentage of all the estimated households in their respective community area, Lakeview's rate of self-reported same-sex couple-led households ( 2.1 percent ) remains well above the city average ( 0.9 percent ) but its ranking falls behind two others—Edgewater ( 3.2 percent ) and Rogers Park ( 3.0 percent ) .

Comparing the community areas' ratios of queer male households to queer female households, Edgewater ( 1.60 male households for every one female household ) , Uptown ( 3.04:1 ) and Rogers Park ( 3.91:1 ) are much more in line with the city average ( 1.89 male households for every 1 female household ) than Lakeview. Lakeview is estimated to be home to 10.77 queer male households for every one female household.

The variance in queer male:female households is further accentuated between Edgewater and Lakeview when the analysis is narrowed to the Census tracts comprising the respective Andersonville and Boystown "gayborhoods." Andersonville's male-to-female ratio is estimated to be 1.33:1, while Boystown's is 12.15:1. Andersonville's rate of queer couple-led households as a percentage of all households ( 5.3 percent ) is also markedly higher than Boystown ( 2.4 percent ) . While we're not going to choose a side in this battle of the particular battle of the gayborhoods, we're going to go ahead and let these numbers speak for themselves.

Our analysis, finally, found another large discrepancy in how many queer female couple-led households reported a home south of Roosevelt Road ( largely accepted as the boundary between the northern half of the city and its southern portion ) . Eighty-six percent of queer male households are found north of Roosevelt, while only 50 percent of queer female households are found in the northern half of the city. Further, among the community areas with the top 15 queer male:female ratios, 11 are found north of Roosevelt. That finding is reversed among the top 15 female:male ratios, where 11 such areas are located south of Roosevelt.

All told, only seven of the city's 77 community areas ( 9 percent ) did not report being home to any same-sex couple-led households. Queer households can be found throughout the city—hroughout its North, West and South sides, a notable assertion to be shared with any lawmaker or public decision-maker outside of the city's Lakefront-adjacent North Side who may not see LGBTQ concerns as issues of interest to their constituents.

However, all of these numbers are presented, just as with last week's statewide analysis, with significant caveats. First, many LGBTQ people remain invisible in the Census's eyes as the current survey offers no option for single people, as well as many bisexual people, transgender people and individuals who do not live with their partners to identify themselves.

As the sample size of this data goes down, so too does the reliability of the data. For example, the estimate of 9,228 same-sex couple-led households across the city, based on ACS data from the 2005-2009 five-year file, has a margin of error of +/- about 10 percent. As the lens focuses in closer on specific community areas, as in this analysis, that margin of error grows even higher, and for this reason, this analysis is meant to offer only a sketch of what the forthcoming decennial Census data may report.

Gary Gates, a Williams Distinguished Scholar at the Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at the UCLA law school, has recently come under some fire in the community for releasing a recent report estimating that, based on the limited existing data that is reliable, only some four million adults identify as gay or lesbian—1.7 percent of the adult population, far lower than the popular 10 percent Kinsey Institute figure.

However, as Gates wrote in an April 8 op-ed in the Washington Post, such estimates—which he is among the first to call "imprecise"—sound a rallying cry for more reliable demographical data on LGBTQ communities. " [ T ] here certainly is no longer a need to prove that gay people exist," Gates said, but as courts and lawmakers throughout the country take up debates surrounding how queer Americans can live their lives, accurate, defendable numbers are needed. Gates has been one of the leading advocates for the Census Bureau to add a question specifically pertaining to sexual orientation and gender identity to upcoming ACS forms.

"Assumptions about people are flimsy; numbers are solid," Gates said, referencing the decades-old Kinsey report. "The reality of our political system is that you don't really count unless you are counted. So it's time to stop believing an old estimate and start making an accurate count."

Please also see Part 1 at www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php


This article shared 6579 times since Wed Apr 20, 2011
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

A record 1,185 LGBTQ+ elected officials now serving in the United States 2023-06-08
--From an LGBTQ+ Victory Institute press release - Washington, DC — Today LGBTQ+ Victory Institute released its 2023 Out for America Report, the only national census of out LGBTQ+ elected officials in the United States. With at least 1,185 out LGBTQ+ elected officials currently ...


Gay News

Report: U.S. has record number of LGBTQ+ elected officials 2022-08-19
-- From a press release - Washington, DC — LGBTQ Victory Institute released its 2022 Out for America Report, the only national census of out LGBTQ elected officials in the United States. With at least 1,043 out LGBTQ elected officials currently serving, ...


Gay News

National LGBTQ Redistricting Project launched; new census data out 2021-08-11
--From a press release - Washington, DC LGBTQ Victory Fund the only national organization dedicated to electing LGBTQ leaders to public office launched a first-of-its-kind national effort to ensure LGBTQ communities ...


Gay News

WORLD Trans deaths, China census, Rob Halford, Hungary measure 2020-11-16
- Globally, at least 350 transgender people have been killed this year (2020)—a figure that has risen since last year's total of 331, Forbes noted. The annual list, released for Transgender Day of Remembrance (Nov. 20) by ...


Gay News

ALMA, Center on Halsted hosting visibility talk Sept. 15 2020-09-09
- ALMA (The Association of Latinos/as Motivating Action) and the Center on Halsted LGBTQ will host a virtual community discussion on visibility—"Being Seen and Heard in the Time of Coronavirus, Census ...


Gay News

Stand up and be counted 2020-07-10
- As the LGBTQ+ navigator of Chinese Mutual Aid Association, I want to encourage everyone, both LGBTQ+ individuals and cisgender/straight allies, to get counted in Census 2020. Many of you might wonder whether completing the Census really ...


Gay News

LETTER: The U.S. Census important to LGBTQ community political, economic power 2020-06-27
- We've all seen the messaging about the Census and many of us might just wonder whether completing it truly makes a difference. As a director on the board for a social services agency that serves undercounted ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Harvey Milk, trans woman killed, 'Queer the Census,' NYC Pride 2020-05-18
- LGBTQ-rights icon Harvey Milk would have turned 90 on May 22—and San Francisco is coming together (virtually) that day, a press release noted. Openhouse, SF Queer Nightlife Fund and the Tenderloin Museum will present "Live Drag ...


Gay News

OP-ED: Census 2020 is complicated for LGBTQ people, but it counts 2020-05-13
- By now, everyone should have received a mailing from the U.S. Census Bureau to get counted. I have complicated feelings about the census. While the census is critically important to ensure a fair allocation of funding ...


Gay News

'Drag Up the Census' Zoom event on May 12 2020-05-07
- Illinois state Sen. Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago) is joining Chicago Alds. James Cappleman and Michele Smith via Zoom on May 12 at 12:30 p.m. for "Drag Up the Census"—a virtual community forum focused on census participation and ...


Gay News

Morrison, Asian group launch census PSAs 2020-04-29
- Cook County Commissioner Kevin B. Morrison and the American Association of Retired Asians (AARA) launched "Everyone Deserves to be Counted," a series of video PSAs in six different languages—Urdu, Gujarati ...


Gay News

Cook County commissioner urges census participation 2020-03-31
- Cook County Commissioner Kevin B. Morrison will wrap up "#2020Census at the Brookfield Zoo," a weekly video series featuring information about the 2020 census and Brookfield Zoo animal ambassadors April 1—when Census Day is observed nationwide. ...


Gay News

LGBTQ Chicagoans weigh in on 2020 Census 2020-03-31
- The U.S. Census Bureau has asked people to stand up (or, at least, fill out a form) and be counted. (Note: Because of the coronavirus, the bureau has extended the deadline for two weeks, until mid-August.) ...


Gay News

OPEN LETTER Census 2020: The LGBTQ+ community counts 2020-03-27
- It's a new decade, and that means it's time to complete the Census. The Census is done every 10 years, and informs funding for neighborhood improvements, school districts, public health, the building of new roads and ...


Gay News

Census official talks LGBTQs' relevance 2020-02-19
- According to Timothy P. Olson, associate director for field operations for the U.S. Census Bureau, it is imperative that members of the LGBT community fill out their census data in the upcoming months. "The results of ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.