In addition, the data show, child rearing among same-sex couples is more common in the South than in any other region of the country, according to Gary Gates, a demographer at the University of California, Los Angeles. Gay couples in Southern states like Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas are more likely to be raising children than their counterparts on the West Coast, in New York and in New England. The pattern, identified by Mr. Gates, is also notable because the families in this region defy the stereotype of a mainstream gay America that is white, affluent, urban and living in the Northeast or on the West Coast.“We’re starting to see that the gay community is very diverse,” said Bob Witeck, chief executive of Witeck-Combs Communications, which helped market the census to gay people. “We’re not all rich white guys.”
Black and Latino gay and lesbian couples, the study found, were twice as likely to be raising kids, and most gay parents had their children in heterosexual relationships entered into before coming out. And you gotta love the irony: gays and lesbians who had kids when they were closeted—kids they're now raising with same-sex partners—entered into those heterosexual relationships because "church disapproval weighed heavily" on them. So religious leaders who condemn gay parents and gay families... wind up creating gay parents and gay families.
The Lord works in mysterious ways.
