Gay pairs like boros, raising kids in Bronx

Gay pairs like boros, raising kids in Bronx

BY STEPHANIE GASKELL
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Wednesday, August 27th 2008, 2:01 AM

A new report finds most gay couples in the city don't live in Manhattan - and that more same-sex partners are raising kids in the Bronx than any other borough.

There are nearly 26,000 gay couples in the city and 62% of them live outside Manhattan, a study released by UCLA's Williams Institute found.

"We need to look beyond 'Will & Grace' to understand the lives of gay and lesbian New Yorkers," said study co-author Gary Gates, referring to the NBC comedy that was almost entirely set in Manhattan.

Of all gay couples in the city, 38.2% live in Manhattan, 27% live in Brooklyn, 20% live in Queens, 11.3% live in the Bronx and 3.5% live on Staten Island.

Many of those couples are raising children - and the highest number of gay parents is in the Bronx. The study, which was culled from 2000 census data, found that 32.3% of gay couples with kids are raising them in the Bronx, 31.5% in Brooklyn, 22% in Queens, 8.5% in Manhattan and 5.7% on Staten Island.

There are more same-sex male couples than female couples in Manhattan, but that trend is reversed in the Bronx.

Gay couples without kids are also making more than their married counterparts with an average income of $116,540 compared with $79,230. But for those with children, the median household income is 26% lower than for straight parents