Gay Groups Step Up Effort for Inclusion in Census

Although gay and lesbian families will be able to indicate whether they and their same-sex partners are married on this year's edition of the Census, none of the 10 queries on the form asks the simplest of all questions relevant to the GLBT community: the sexual orientation of the respondent.

Gay groups looking to "Queer the Census" have a simple fix: they're offering stickers that provide a chance to check to appropriate box--not just for gay, lesbain, bisexual, or transgendered, but also for "gay allies."

In addition to the stickers, groups like Our Families Count are making other materials available, such as a downloadable "toolkit" that explains the Census and clarifies why it is important for everyone--but especially minorities--to complete and return the form. "Census 2010 is a once-in-a decade opportunity to gain critical information about the LGBT community. It will provide accurate data to inform policies ranging from LGBT people serving in the military to marriage," explains the executive director of the Williams Institute, Brad Sears. "Making sure you are counted is just as important as voting. While voting on a ballot measure might impact one of your rights; participating in the Census will impact all of your rights for the next decade."

The Census Bureau itself is making a special effort to reach out to the GLBT community with All Out for the Count, a multi-city event put on March 19 and 20 with local GLBT advocacy partners.

"Prior to the weekend, Census outreach teams will contact neighborhood businesses, providing them with census posters, stickers, coasters and T-shirts for their staff on those nights and creating partnerships with them to support the 2010 Census and encourage everyone to mail back their Census forms," a media advisory on the event says.

"Households around the nation should have begun receiving the 10-question Census form in their mailboxes starting March 15," the advisory continues. "Mandated by the U.S. Constitution, the census takes place on April 1, 2010. Census data determine boundaries for state and local legislative and congressional districts. More than $400 billion in federal funds are distributed annually based on census data to pay for local programs and services such as free lunches for low-income students, vocational training, road construction and emergency services."

This year's Census form is designed for simplicity and a minimum of fuss. It is estimated that the form's 10 questions should only take about 10 minutes to complete.
The 2010 Census form will be one of the shortest in U.S. history, consisting of 10 questions, taking about 10 minutes to complete. Strict confidentiality laws protect the respondents and the information they provide.

Box Turtle Bulletin reported in a March 15 article, "The 2010 Census does not ask about sexual orientation or gender identity." However, "LGBT people living with a spouse or partner can identify their relationship by checking either the 'husband or wife' or 'unmarried partner' box."

The article continued, "Census data are based on how individuals self identify and how couples think of themselves. Same-sex couples who are married, or consider themselves to be spouses, can identify one other adult as a 'husband or wife.' Other same-sex couples may instead decide to use the term 'unmarried partner.' "

The article said that when it comes to the question asking whether the respondent is male or female, transgendered people are free to check the box corresponding to the gender with which they identify.

Since 1990, the wording on Census forms has allowed gay and lesbian families to identify themselves. In 1990, 100,000 families did just that; in 2000, 600,000 families let the government know they existed. The Dallas Voice reported in a Dec. 8, 2009 article that, according to the director of the policy institute at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Jaime Grant, those numbers--while understood to represent only some gays and lesbians--have informed policy decisions and shattered misperceptions about gay privilege and gay demographics by showing that GLBT people live everywhere in the nation, and are present in every race and income bracket.

But some feel that America's sexual minorities are still "invisible," and point to the fact that the Census fails to ask the most basic question of all: whether the respondent considers him or herself to be straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered. "It's crazy--the U.S. Census Bureau wants an accurate count of everyone in the country--but there's no question in the survey that asks if you are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender," text at the website for Queer the Census says. "LGBT people are basically invisible," the text adds.

"What we are finding is that as the census evolves, it is leaving out a significant portion of our population," Ryan Acker, the executive director for the Pikes Peak Gay and Lesbian Community Center, told the media, reported a March 17 article at Colorado Connection. "Right now these populations are very underrepresented in counts, so when you talk about how many of the population is LGBT people, some of that is guess work because we have to say statistically this is what it likely is."

The article noted that only Congress can add a question about the respondent's sexuality to the Census. The pink stickers won't be tallied--but they will demonstrate that the issue is seen as important to the community. "This is one way that our community to stand up and say we're here and we do need to be counted and you need to know we exist," said Ackers.