This news is certainly unexpected, and perhaps even shocking to some, considering that Utah has a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. However, as reported by the Los Angeles Times, a study conducted by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law backs up the claim.---

The study revealed that more than 1 in 4 same-sex couples are raising children in Salt Lake City and the surrounding areas.

The fact that Salt Lake City topped the list isn't the only shocker. Among the 50 states, it is not California nor New York that has the highest percentage of same-sex couples raising children, it is Mississippi.

Click on the image to zoom in (slightly). Graphic courtesy of the Williams Institute

The study claims that the reason these more conservative regions, not typically associated with celebrating homosexuality, are dominating the list could be the way in which these couples are having children.

Unlike media depictions, these couples are not adopting nor are they going to sperm banks to have children. They are raising their own children.

"A big chunk of them are people who had children young, with opposite-sex partners, before they came out," Gary J. Gates, a researcher behind the study, said to the Los Angeles Times.

Then, once they came out, they raised their children with a partner of the same sex, he continued.

One would assume that liberal cities like Los Angeles or San Francisco would have much higher rates than Salt Lake City. While the percentage of couples is higher in Salt Lake City, the actual number of couples is smaller than the number in those coastal areas.

This could be a sign that Salt Lake City is not the seemingly oppressive place it was once thought to be. After all, The Advocate did name SLC the Gayest City in America in 2012.