Census to Release New Data on Same-Sex Couples

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - As a vote to define marriage in the state constitution gets closer, the U.S. Census Bureau is preparing to release new estimates on the number of same-sex couples in Minnesota and other states.

On Tuesday, the bureau is to release new statistics on married same-sex couples and revised figures on unmarried same-sex couples that accounts for errors in previously released data.

In July, the bureau released data from the 2010 Census that found the number of households with same-sex couples in Minnesota rose by 50 percent over the past decade to nearly 14,000. That's less than 1 percent of the total.

The Legislature voted in May to put the definition of marriage in Minnesota's Constitution to a statewide vote in November 2012.