[From page 1 of The San Francisco Examiner, September 12th:]


               S. F. REMAINS A MECCA FOR GAY COUPLES

Census data reveal same-sex households abound in The City

   Jeff Stryker [38] and Bill Aseltyne [31] tried Washington CD
and Ann Arbor MI and Mill Valley CA.  But when it was time to put
down roots, they decided there's no place like San Francis-
co. . . .

   . . . A first-ever U.S. Census Bureau count shows that 6,816
gay and lesbian couples lived in San Francisco in 1990, more than
in any other California city. . . .

   By comparison, New York City, with about ten times San Francis-
co's population of 724,000, has 9,301 gay couples; Chicago, with
four times The City's population, has 3,842; and Washington DC,
with about 100,000 fewer residents, has 2,213.

   A neighborhood-by-neighborhood analysis of the census data by
The Examiner found gay couples in one of every forty-five homes in
The City, with a presence in every neighborhood except Chinatown
and the [U.S. Army's] Presidio.

   Only one California city - West Hollywood - can claim a higher
concentration, with a gay or lesbian couple heading one in every
thirty-five households.

   In San Francisco, a gay couple inhabited one of every eight
homes in the Upper Market [Street] area, which includes the
Castro. . . .