The Geography of Immigrants in Same-Sex Couples in the United States

Where do queer immigrants settle in the United States? The policy landscape for same-sex couples in the U.S. has changed rapidly in recent years, with immigrants being particularly affected. After the 2013 end of the Defense of Marriage Act, U.S. citizens could finally sponsor the visa of a same-sex partner, and number of immigrants in same-sex couples increased rapidly. But little is known about where these lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) immigrants choose to settle and enjoy their new rights. Do they behave more similarly to their straight immigrant counterparts and locate based on job opportunities and cost of living? Or do they gravitate toward more queer-friendly cities and states, as U.S.-born LGB people do? How have these patterns changed over time, especially in response to local policy changes relevant to queer people and immigrants? Using American Community Survey data from 2008-2022 and original datasets, this paper implements descriptive analyses and quasi-Poisson models to study how settlement patterns of immigrants in same-sex couples in the U.S. respond to local and national policy changes as well as other local sociodemographic and economic factors. We find that the distribution of immigrants in same-sex couples is expanding across the U.S. over time. These settlement patterns generally look more similar to fellow U.S.-born LGB Americans: locations with higher concentrations are more progressive, have more robust LGBTQ+ civic life, and have higher incomes. Yet immigrants in same-sex couples also live in more racially and ethnically diverse areas compared to U.S.-born Americans in same-sex couples. Our findings contribute to a fuller understanding of this rapidly growing population and under which conditions they may behave more similarly to their fellow migrants, their fellow sexual minorities, or as a distinct population all their own.