The Number of Children Being Raised by Gay or Lesbian Parents

Abstract

An important first step in research on gay or lesbian parenting includes accurately documenting the number of children who are being raised by gay or lesbian parents. US census data can provide accurate estimates of the number of children being raised by same-sex couples, but children being raised by gay or lesbian single parents cannot be identified in this data. We use self-reported sexual orientation data from 9,197 respondents of the National Survey of Family Growth to calculate the number of children being raised by a gay or lesbian parent. We find that about 240,000 children in the US are being raised by a gay or lesbian parent (about a third of which are single parents). This estimate is significantly lower than previous estimates, due largely to how we categorize parents who report being bisexual.

Keywords: same-sex parenting, gay, lesbian, family structure, census, population