ABSTRACT
Demographic information from the census and other data sets give a more accurate picture of same-sex families in order to predict how social and legal institutions should accommodate those households. Lesbian, gay men and bisexuals (LGB), people, their relationships and their families are increasingly incorporated into legal institutions and doctrine. Moreover, like their opposite-sex counterparts, same-sex couples are raising their own biological children the paradigmatic situation where the law allocates parental responsibility towards the child. Beyond family recognition, residence, and related data, same-sex couples also resemble opposite-sex couples on income and interdependency measures. In addition to LGB couples resemblance to married couples on economic interdependence measures, minority same-sex couples even more acutely need legal support for their relationships and their taking of responsibility. Relationship recognition and attendant legal protections may never fully address demographic differences among same-sex couples and between same- and opposite-sex families.
