Census Data: Lesbians More Likely to Live in Norcal, Gay Men in SoCal

​Last week, NYC beat California to marriage equality. (Well, unless you count our fleeting sliver of justice in 2008.) So, for one honorary week, we'll refrain from calling it New York Shitty. Though that won't stop the Onion from picking up where we left off.
Anyway, while the topic is hot, the Williams Institute, a UCLA think tank devoted to LGBT law, has taken the opportunity to release some pretty graphs showing where most gay/lesbian couples live, where they don't live, how many babies they have, etc. One odd California stat in particular caught our eye:
According to 2010 Census data, the vast majority of lesbian couples live in NorCal, while gay couples tend to gravitate toward the bottom of the state.
Oh, shit. Is SoCal unfriendly to girl-on-girl action? (No, not that kind. Obviously.)
It's no secret that same-sex couples tend to avoid the rural deserts and farmlands of eastern Calfornia -- and the folks out there made it very clear, on their Prop. 8 ballots, that the feeling was mutual. But aside from that, we're a little perplexed by these LGBT migration patterns:

The Williams Institute

​ It's important to note that lesbian couples outnumber gay couples overall. After accounting for that difference, though, the data clearly shows that girls are clustered up north, saturating counties like Sonoma, Mendocino and Humboldt with their out-and-proudness. Man couples, on the other hand, are a little more spread out. But their biggest concentration is throughout SoCal -- in Los Angeles, San Deigo and Riverside Counties.
The two groups overlap in San Francisco, but we could have told you that.
Most disconcerting is the fact that lesbian couples show up scarce in L.A. County -- one of the most popular spots for gay men. (FYI: Probably because it includes so many conservative rural bits, L.A. County actually voted majority "yes" on Prop. 8.)
So. Do lesbians feel unwelcome here? If so, this might speak to recent feminist upset in West Hollywood, L.A.'s token gayborhood, where some complain it's gotten too boy-centric. Thus the push to name itself "Boystown," and the noticeable rarity of girls' nights on the club circuit.
The trend would also reinforce the stereotype of woodsy, au naturale granola lesbians living in Humboldt and its surrounding hippie hoods, while plastic Gaga gays work on their abs/tans down south.

Gay Marriages On Hold In Calif. During Court Appeal

A federal appeals court on Wednesday refused to allow gay marriages to take place in California while it considers the constitutionality of the state's voter-approved ban.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris had joined gay marriage proponents in urging the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to lift a stay that had been placed on a lower court's ruling to strike down Proposition 8.

Lawyers for two same-sex couples had sought again to lift the stay after the California Supreme Court recently said it would take at least until the end of the year to consider a legal question asked by the appeals court in the case.

They argued that the U.S. District Court ruling overturning the ban should be honored while the appeal, which they believe is unlikely to succeed, slowly make its way through the courts.

"We felt then, as we do now, that it is decidedly unjust and unreasonable to expect California's gay and lesbian couples to put their lives on hold and suffer daily discrimination ... while their U.S. District Court victory comes to its final conclusion," said Chad Griffin, board president of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, in a statement.

However, Proposition 8 supporters said the ban should stay in effect to honor the voters' wishes until the legal questions are settled.

"The voters deserve for their votes to count even while the lawsuit is pending" said Andrew Pugno, general counsel for the Proposition 8 campaign.

"Both sides are well aware that this issue will not be finally decided until it reaches the U.S. Supreme Court, and it helps no one for the law to shift back and forth prior to that time," he said.

In a letter to the court earlier this month, Harris said sponsors of Proposition 8 were unlikely to prevail in their appeal. Keeping it in effect, therefore, was a fruitless violation of gay Californians' civil rights, Harris said.

"The public interest weighs heavily against the government sanctioning such discrimination by permitting it to continue," she wrote.

Once the state's high court makes its decision, the case will resume in the 9th Circuit. Once a decision is rendered there, the case is expected to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.