A recent New York Times article revealed the spread of same-sex marriages as a percentage of all marriages in United States zip codes, Minnesota totals reaching less than one-half of a percent in all zip code clusters except around the Twin Cities.
In Minnesota, there are 4,162 marriages between gay or lesbian couples according to the Treasury department. That makes up less than 0.4 percent of the total of 1.05 million marriages in Minnesota.
The strongest showing of same-sex marriages comes in and around the Twin Cities zip. Roughly 2000 same-sex marriages were counted in 554 zip codes, 1.17 percent of total marriages. In 551 zip codes the ratio is around 0.64 percent. 562 zip codes have the weakest showing of same-sex marriage percentage in Minnesota, with only 16 of the nearly 30,000 marriages being between same-sex couples.
“Though the homosexual population is widely recognized to be 1-2 percent of the general population, only a fraction are actually getting ‘married,’ according to this report,” Minnesota Family Council CEO John Helmberger wrote in a prepared statement, “The Treasury report exposes the myth generated by same-sex advocates that there was a huge, pent up demand for legal ‘marital’ status among the homosexual community.”
The Times’ article uses United States Treasury data on joint filings, as well as gendered names analysis to estimate the numbers of marriages, both heterosexual and homosexual ones. The federal government does not keep track of such information, with that instead being held at the state and county level. The highest proportion of same-sex marriages comes in the 941 zip codes around San Francisco. With 5,332 same-sex marriages, the city and surrounding area reaches a 4.32 percent ratio.
LGBT advocacy group OutFront Minnesota did not reply for comment in time for publication.
