Queens Gay Couples: Out, Proud, All Over
By DOMENICK RAFTER
The number of same sex couples living openly in Queens has soared the last 10 years, according to official Census numbers – and the population is scattered all over the borough.
Jackson Heights, home of the borough’s Gay Pride Parade for the last 19 years, has the highest population of same-sex couples, followed by Astoria, Long Island City, Forest Hills and Kew Gardens. In one Census tract that covers the area between Roosevelt Avenue and Northern Boulevard between 78th and 81st Street, 7 percent of all couples are same-sex couples, the highest in Queens.
But the numbers also show a surprisingly high number of same-sex couples, more than 150, living in South Jamaica, and more than 100 living in Far Rockaway.
The borough lags behind Manhattan and Brooklyn because in other parts of the borough, especially in the eastern half, the numbers are among the lowest in the city. In the neighborhoods of Bayside, Fresh Meadows, Douglaston, Electchester and Auburndale, less than 1 percent of all couples are same sex couples. Even in Downtown Flushing, only a little more than 1 percent of total couples were same sex couples.
Citywide, the number of same sex couples reporting their relationships to the Census Bureau increased by 27 percent, but experts say the increase can be explained by more couples openly admitting their relationships rather than living in the dark about them. The highest numbers of same-sex couples are in Greenwich Village, Chelsea and Clinton in Manhattan and Park Slope, Fort Greene and Williamsburg in Brooklyn.
Though male gay couples far outnumber lesbian couples in the areas with high populations of same sex couples, in neighborhoods with low numbers, like Bayside, Malba, Howard Beach, Middle Village, Glendale and Bellerose, lesbian partnerships are more prevalent. The only exception comes on the Rockaway Peninsula, where same sex couples make up about 2 percent of the population, but lesbian couples outnumber male couples in the communities with the largest number of gay partnerships: Arverne, Hammels and Rockaway Park.
Counting the population of same-sex couples could be made easier in future Censuses now that New York State has legalized same-sex marriage. Though the state did previously recognize gay marriages performed in states and countries where it was legal, thereby making it easier to count gay couples in the Census, it has only done so since 2008.
The first legal same-sex weddings will be performed on Sunday and the City, expecting to break the record for most weddings in a single day, has capped the number of weddings that day – straight or gay – at 764. A lottery was held for the 764 slots (400 in Manhattan, 112 each in Brooklyn and Queens, 98 in the Bronx and 42 in Staten Island) that was to close Thursday at noon. Winners were to be announced on Friday.
Reach Reporter Domenick Rafter at drafter@queenstribune.com or (718) 357-7400, Ext. 125.