Ever wondered how gay (or not gay) where you live is? Some time ago, I remember getting into a conversation regarding how gay the Montrose area in Houston, Texas, was. A friend told me it was “gayer” than even San Francisco. The argument was that Montrose had a greater per square mile density than even the preeminently gay San Francisco. The logic was, being an entire city, many of its alternative lifestyle residents lived outside the city limits.

While that sounded like a plausible argument, I felt that it was certainly incorrect to compare a very small geographical area of Houston to a city of 764,976 people. So, I looked it up.

Beginning in 2000, the Census began tracking same-sex cohabitating couples.

Married and Unmarried-Partner Households by Metropolitan Residence Status: 2000

http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/censr-5.pdf

The same-sex totals are aggregated by adding “Male householder and male partner” and “Female householder and female partner” together from under “Unmarried-partner households” in the UNMARRIED-PARTNER HOUSEHOLDS BY SEX OF PARTNERS data table (PCT14 from the 2000 Census, and B11009 from the American Community Surveys).

Although the U.S. Census records of same-sex couples are not a true reflection of the amount of gays living in a particular region, it can be used as a proxy to compare and contrast different areas of the country. The website gaydemographics.org has done an  used to do an excellent job tallying gay demographics for different countries, states, cities, etc.

Turns out that Montrose is pretty gay. Looking at the 77006 area code in the 2000 Census, one will find it had the tenth largest percentage of same sex couples for any zip code reporting more than 100 same-sex couples. However, San Francisco’s 94114 area code comes in at second place under this same qualifier. While 15.97 percent of Montrose’s couples reported to be same-sex, Castro/Noe Valley was 32.09 percent–more than double. The city of San Francisco, itself, was 6.91 percent while Houston was 1.75 percent. So, technically, my friend was right when he said that Montrose was gayer than San Francisco; albeit an unfair comparison.

Unfortunately, until the 2010 Census comes out sometime in 2011, zip code data is only available from 2000.

Zip Codes with Highest Percentage of Same-Sex Couple Households (100 or more): 2000

The Gay Demographics site does not yet have state totals for 2007. But do not fret–I do:

Same-Sex Couple Households for U.S. States, D.C.: 2007

Additional state data for the years 2000 and 2007 can be found in this Excel spreadsheet:

  2000-2007-Same-Sex-Couples-by-State.xlsx (41.9 KiB, 629 hits)

Turns out that one needs to study for more than just puzzles, logic arguments, and passage structures: You also need to know cursive! Despite having three books, totaling 1,362 pages between them, not one of them mentioned having to write out the following statement in cursive!

 LSAT Certifying Statement

The proctor instructed us to write the certifying statement in cursive, and when finished, look to the front of the room so she would know when to move on to the next set of instructions. At first glance, it did not seem like that big of a deal. But after attempting to write out a few words, panic set in when I realized that I forgot how to write in cursive!

I thought about questioning authority as to why we needed to write in cursive. I thought about sharing with the group that I had forgotten this third grade skill. But instead, I kept my head down and tried to relight those burned out synapses as fast as I could. About half way through the statement, I could sense that all writing in the room had ceased. I could feel attention shifting to me. Nonetheless, I kept my focus and plowed ahead. After a few more moments of silence, she moved to the next set of instructions without me. When it was all said and done, I had produced a paragraph that looked like it had been penned by a mentally challenged elementary kid. I could not even make it all fit in the box!

I quit writing in cursive not long after I learned it. The reason for that is two part: 1) Anything that I hand write is usually for me to read (i.e. notes); and I have trouble reading my own cursive handwriting. 2) Anything that I write, for anyone besides me, is nearly always typed. For these reasons, I have been writing exclusively in print and typeface for more than a decade. However, it was not so much that I could not actually write in cursive, it was just really hard. Imagine someone that is not ambidextrous trying to write out a paragraph using their non-dominant hand. That is what it felt like–slow and labored.

As soon as I got back home, I hit the internet to find out why the certifying statement had to be written in cursive, and whether or not I was alone in my inability to formulate this particular esoteric scrawl. While I never found a satisfying answer as to why, I did run into a dissonance abating report from the College Board. It reported that of the almost 1.5 million students completing the first ever essay section on the SAT in 2006, only 15 percent of them utilized cursive. The other 85 percent printed. So, maybe I am not alone?

I get a certain enigmatic aesthetical pleasure by methodically printing very ossified, invariate, and often rectilinear letters. Personally, I believe that cursive should be relegated solely to fancy dinner menus, wedding invitations, and other formal event informational brochures, as it serves no uniquely practical or functional purpose. It is already known fact that cursive takes readers longer to read and is not actually faster to write.[1,2] Besides, having to read it for anything more, gives me a headache, seeing as everything in the digital age comes in print. Moreover, I am very ardent in the belief that cursive should only be undertaken by calligraphers and those displaying the utmost technically proficient penmanship. Nothing irritates me more than having to read a page full of sloppy cursive. If only I were king…

Here is to hopefully never having to do it again: ¡Muerte a cursive! ¡Viva la print!

References:

1) Cursive vs. Printing: Is One Better Than the Other?

2) Graham, Steve, Naomi Weintraub, and Virginia W. Berninger. 1998. The Relationship Between Handwriting Style and Legibility. Journal of Educational Research 91 (5):7