ATLANTA - Because they are women, Melinda and Suzanne Sheldon cannot legally marry under the laws of their native Georgia. But their neighbors in a relatively rural part of the state were more accepting of their union, throwing the pair a party when they came home from their wedding in Vermont.
The Sheldons, who married last year, are among a growing number of couples who identify themselves as living in same-sex households in Georgia, according to U.S. Census data released Thursday. Those figures show the number of same-sex households reported in the state has increased by 55 percent over a decade, up from 19,288 in 2000 to 29,844 in 2010, a trend that experts say is expected to be reflected nationwide.
The increases, recorded in all 18 states for which same-sex household numbers had been released by Thursday, are due in part to same-sex couples being more open and willing to report their household status, said Gary Gates, a demographer at the Williams Institute, a think tank at UCLA that deals with issues of law and public policy related to sexual orientation and gender identity.
Some of the biggest increases have been recorded in the most conservative states, and that could reflect a growing comfort with evolving attitudes in areas that have traditionally been less accepting of same-sex relationships than other parts of the nation, Gates said. But he's convinced that the rising numbers are not due solely to more willingness to be officially recorded.
"I'm fairly confident that, broadly, the increase is absolutely real because it's been large everywhere," Gates said.
An exact comparison between 2000 and 2010 Census numbers is likely not entirely accurate because of some minor differences in how the Census Bureau collected and processed same-sex couple data, Gates said. But he believes the general trend borne out by numbers is accurate.
Census data also show that at least 8,456, or about 28 percent, of the same-sex households in Georgia include children. The actual number could be greater because children reported on the Census form are those related to the householder, and children related to that person's partner may or may not be reported.
Nearly half of all same-sex households reported in the state are concentrated in four big metro Atlanta counties. Fulton had the most with 5,092 such households, followed by DeKalb with 4,524, Gwinnett with 2,032 and Cobb with 2,002. Metro Savannah's Chatham County, with 928 same-sex households, had the most outside of the Atlanta area.
"Certainly it is not a surprise that same-sex families are concentrated in larger urban areas," said Jeff Graham, executive director of Georgia Equality, which works to advance fairness, safety and opportunity for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and allied communities. "People do that because there's less stigma, there's greater acceptance in those areas."
But Graham stressed that same-sex households exist throughout the state, and Census figures bear that out. Same-sex households were reported in every one of Georgia's 159 counties.
A much greater outreach effort was made before the 2010 Census to encourage people to report same-sex households, Graham said. His hope is that evidence of a growing population will lead to changes in Georgia laws and policies, including altering the state constitution, which prohibits official recognition of same-sex unions, he said.
Amber Moore, 43, with the Atlanta Pride Committee, plans to marry her partner of two years in the next two years. They've thought about leaving, going somewhere where gay relationships are more accepted, such as San Francisco. But she said she feels like her activism is needed more here.
"Out there I could join in and help, whereas here I'm on the ground floor," she said. "Our community needs us. If we leave, who's going to help?"
Already, she thinks attitudes among Atlanta's population area are becoming more accepting, in part because so many people in Atlanta have moved here from less socially conservative parts of the country. Her 14-year-old son, whom she adopted when she was single, attends private school and she's seen more and more families "with two mommies or two daddies," she said.
Will Bellais, 76, married his partner, Carl, 55, in December 2009, four months after the two professors who work together began dating
"We do everything every married couple does - the spats, the loving, the caring and all the rest," he said.
Bellais has lived in Savannah for 10 years, and said he's seen a marked improvement in the attitude toward gay couples in the coastal city and an increase in the number of publicly gay couples.
Melinda and Suzanne Sheldon, who are 37 and 34, respectively, live in High Shoals, about 60 miles east of Atlanta in Morgan County, which had 31 recorded same-sex households.
Together for four years, they live there because Suzanne Sheldon is a veterinarian and treats large farm animals as well as household pets. Less than 20 miles from Athens, home to the university of Georgia, the community has accepted their relationship, but attitudes aren't as open as in some places, Melinda Sheldon said.
"When we got back from our wedding in Vermont, I remember feeling literally like, `Wow, that was another planet,' because the gay community in Vermont is so integrated into every aspect of life there, so much more than here," she said.
Monday
June 30th, 2025
3:57AM
