One Iowa in the News: Government releases figures on same-sex marriages

from KCCI-TV.

The U.S. Census Bureau counted same-sex married couples for the first time during the 2010 Census.

In Iowa, the tally is 1,373 same-sex married couples compared with 4,093 unmarried same-sex couples.

John Sellers and Tom Helten said they are the faces behind the new census numbers.

"That's very important, to be counted, to be recognized. That says it's official," Sellers said.

The Des Moines couple has been married for two and a half years.

"Oh, it just makes us just like every other married couple, we are no different," Helten said.

The numbers tell the rest of the story. The census bureau counted 131,729 same-sex married couples in the United States in 2010. That compares with 514,735 same-sex unmarried couples.

Troy Price is the executive director of One Iowa.

"They are couples in our communities, in our schools, our churches, our PTA meetings, in our grocery stores. These are real people, and it's great they are being recognized by the census," Price said.

...For Sellers and Helten, the new census numbers offer a sense of legitimacy.

"We are family," Helten said.

Sellers said, "We really are married, we really are a couple, we're really here about family and we deserve the same rights that everybody has."

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