linkBetween 2000 and 2005, Missouri had the ninth-highest percentage increase in the number of U.S. couples who said they were in same-sex relationships. The number of same-sex couples in Missouri jumped by about 56 percent, to 14,772 from 9,428, according to the study by UCLA's Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy.
Nationally, the number of same-sex couples grew by nearly 31 percent between 2000 and 2005, to 776,943 from 594,391, the analysis of Census data found.
The increases found in the survey don't necessarily mean that a flood of gay people moved to the nation's heartland, said Gary Gates, a senior research fellow at the Williams Institute.
"The Midwest had one of the biggest closets," Gates said. "I don't think it's really that the numbers of gay and lesbian people have increased; I think it's just that they have become more comfortable with identifying themselves as such."
