At age 15, Katherine Santana discovered something that forever changed her family dynamic.
The Atlanta native was surprised to find out the reason her parents had been divorced since she was 9 — her father was gay.
Though Santana, digital art sophomore, has a loving relationship with both her fathers, Santana said she hesitates when telling people about her parental situation because of opposition toward same-sex parenting existing today, especially in the conservative South.
“It’s hard to live in a society where people are constantly putting you down about it,” she said. “I would hate for anyone else to have to keep a secret. I hope I’m the last generation to go through this.”
Despite living in the South, Santana is not alone in her unique family situation.
Same-sex couples raising children younger than 18 are more common in the South than in northern, more liberal areas, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.
The nation’s highest percentage of gay couples raising children is in the East-South-Central region, which includes Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee, where 26.3 percent of same-sex couples are raising children. The West-South-Central region, including Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas, follows closely with 26 percent, the nation’s second-highest total.
The New England region, including Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont, came in behind the southern states. Census data shows 24.4 percent of gay couples in that area are raising children.
Santana said she found the trend surprising.
“To find out it’s a big thing is a good thing,” she said.
Gary Gates, a demographer at the University of California-Los Angeles who noticed the pattern in the data, said the majority of same-sex parents were less open early in life in traditionally conservative areas.
“Lesbian and gay parenting is more prevalent in politically and socially conservative parts of the country where lesbians and gay men likely come out later in life,” Gates said in an e-mail.
English senior Kat Barry, president of Spectrum, the University’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer organization, was not surprised by these findings.
“It’s not surprising because family values and family traditions are more prevalent in the South,” she said. “It’s totally relevant to our area.”
Gates said the majority of same-sex parents do not adopt, but they raise the children they had from their previous heterosexual relationships, similar to Santana’s family situation.
“The bulk of parenting by gay men and lesbians is likely the result of children born from different-sex relationships that occurred before lesbians and gay men came out,” Gates said. “Only about 10 percent of children being raised by same-sex couples are adopted.”
Santana’s father is Mexican, making her fit another facet of the new trend, according to Gates.
“Like their heterosexual counterparts, non-white lesbians and gay men … are about twice as likely to be parents as their white counterparts,” Gates said.
Assistant political science professor Laura Moyer said the trend within the ethnic groups may stem from their cultural values.
“This might indicate within African American and Latino groups there are strong family values, and they are interested in taking them on,” Moyer said.
Santana said her father’s relationship is traditional.
Before California passed Proposition 8 in 2008, which banned gay marriage, her father married his partner on one of California’s beaches.
“It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever witnessed,” she said. “It was the first time I called [his partner] daddy.”
Santana said living in a conservative area can sometimes be hard.
“When they say gay jokes, it’s unsettling,” she said.
But despite that, Santana said having two families increases the love she receives.
“When you have all that love, you can conquer the world,” she said.
—————
Contact Claire Caillier at [email protected]