Gay Families Find a Home in the Bronx

As surprising as it may seem, according to a study released last month by the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles, same-sex couples living in the Bronx are more likely to have children than those in any other place in New York City.

For Julian Rodriguez, pictured with his partner Joel Jusino, there was never any other place. Julian has lived in the Bronx since he was 3. “I feel more comfortable because the demographic is more what I’m used to, with my neighbors playing dominoes and the Spanish music,” said Mr. Rodriguez, “I feel like I’m at home with my culture.”  Julian has two daughters from a previous marriage.

Also according to the study, 49 percent of same-sex couples living in the Bronx have children. Many of the couples said they chose the area for the same reasons their straight neighbors did: affordability, space, racial affinity, familiarity.

The Bronx, is home to 11 percent of New York City’s 26,000 same-sex couples, however, gay and lesbian couples typically don’t gravitate to the burough as other neighborhoods are perceived to be more gay-friendly, like Park Slope, Brooklyn, or Chelsea in Manhattan. In fact, many say there are fewer support services and more harassment in the Bronx than other places in New York.

“The Bronx lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community has largely been a hidden community for a very long time because of very real homophobia,” said Lisa Winters, executive director of the Bronx Community Pride Center. “The Bronx is a very machismo borough, and it’s a very religious borough. The religious institutions have a very strong foothold here, and they preach from the pulpit that homosexuality is a sin. “But the world is starting to change,” she said, “and the Bronx is finally getting in line.” Recently, In the Life Ministry, a church geared toward gays and lesbians, opened at Tremont and Westchester Avenues.  There are also a growing number of gay-oriented bars and businesses. Gary J. Gates, a demographer and a senior research fellow at the Williams Institute, said the Bronx stands out nationally as one of few places “where the percent of same-sex couples raising children is virtually the same as different-sex couples raising children.”

Also according to the study, Manhattan is home of the largest population of same-sex couples in New York. 10,000, or 38 percent of the total in the city; 4 percent of those couples have children, compared to 41 percent of Manhattan’s married couples. About 21 percent of Brooklyn’s 7,000 same-sex couples are parents; 53 percent of their straight couple are. In Queens, there are 5,200 gay couples, 22 percent with children, and on Staten Island, 29 percent of the 1,000 same-sex couples are parents; in both of those areas, 51 percent of married straight couples have children.

Gates attributes the high rate of parenthood among Bronx gays to similar demographic findings.  Across the nation, black and Hispanic same-sex couples are twice as likely to have children than white same-sex couples, and the Bronx is 83 percent black or Hispanic. Also, given how expensive it can be to raise a family in New York, the Bronx offers a more affordable option.