Subscribe to Breaking NewsWithers: Not being counted in 2010 Census
When the 2010 Census numbers are eventually crunched, expect to learn nothing about gay couples or families. Neither will exist in the supposed snapshot of the American populace.
Census takers will mark down gay couples, even those married in Connecticut or Massachusetts, as “unmarried partners.” This non-counting will also apply to families. They will be checked as single parent households.
“This is all about the numbers. This [is] not about lifestyle or anything else,” says U.S. Census spokeswoman Cynthia Endo.
Lifestyle?! Lifestyle?! Sigh. Let’s leave Ms. Endo alone for a moment and listen to someone who will explain why being miscounted is a problem.
“We have no population-based survey that asks sexual orientation annually in this country,” said Gary Gates of UCLA School of Law. Gates, who is well known for his own demographic work on the gay community, thinks health care could be one place where a clear LGBT count would be helpful. I’m no genius but here is a health problem where some good numbers are required.
There’s nothing we can do about the 2010 Census, but it is time to start shaking the tree for 2020. Yes I know that’s a far way off but it takes Congress to fix this. And there is going to be a lot of work to do with the Defense of Marriage Act standing in the way. That law, signed by Bill Clinton, makes sure the federal government recognizes no state sanctioned gay union. Start bugging your representative and gay rights organizations.
this is such bull[crap]! The USA has a chance to do SOMETHING to try to undo ignorance of gay people and erase injustice, but instead it remains hypocritical when it comes to gays. Where is the anger at these nonstop attacks on American gays???
I seem to remember that there were never governmentally “official” counts of Jews during the Holocast. Perhaps I’m wrong?
Is there nothing we can do about 2010? In one way that is right. There is probably little if anything we can do about how that census is conducted.
But we can refuse to participate. I have for 20 years. I don’t send back their form. With explanation as to why, I refuse to answer a single question when knock on my door or call me on the phone.
Could there be consequences? Technically, yes, there could be. But I’ve never heard of a single instance when there was. If there are – I’ll take them without whining and then refuse to participate in the next census until I am counted as a fully human citizen.
Neil
If we want same-sex marriages to be counted in the Census, we need to push our legislators to repeal the Federal Defense of Marriage Act. The Census Bureau, as a federal institution, is obligated to abide by federal law, which unfortunately doesn’t recognize same-sex marriages in MA or CT or civil unions/domestic partnerships in the various other states they are recognized. This is terribly frustrating for those of us who want to know about and study the demographics of the out sexual minority population in the US.
Alex, I agree,
Even though we will not count as married or even 2 parent households, we still need to stand up and be counted. Let everyone know we are here and not going away.
Meanwhile, write your representatives, Obama, the local newspapers. Just keep letting people know that we are here and count.
MY SLC, Utah
Please understand that the Census Bureau is not your enemy. They are following federal law–DOMA prevents them from recognizing gay marriage. Get your congressmen to do something about that.
And as it stands, while the “unmarried partner” status is certainly not preferable to “married” and being same sex, it has done wonders in the 2000 census at giving people a clearer idea that stable gay couples are everywhere, even in remote rural areas where they think “gay people don’t exist.” Check out http://www.gaydemographics.org/USA/USA.htm
If we all show up in the census again THIS time, imagine how much greener all those states will be!
When the census taker raps at our door no one will be home. If the door is mistakenly opened I will be the house sitter and will not know who or what lives in the house. “Missy no home.”
A person’s religious belief and how they practice it is a lifestyle choice, is that included in the Consensus?
It is NOT too late do do anything – Congress could change this.
If we all refused to participate in the census, a lot of Democratic congresscritters would get very scared.
We should boycott the census unless we are counted correctly
If it really is ‘not about lifestyle or anything else’ then prove it. Count married heterosexuals as single too.
Why is it when it comes to sexual orientation, ours is always described by the media and public alike as a “lifestyle”, as if we had a choice in it? Why don’t they refer to theirs as a lifestyle? I see a doublestandard here and it smacks of hypocrisy and bigotry too.
If they wont count us, we must not exist, right? I mean, why would they want actual numbers when its much more convenient to pretend we aren’t here instead of being forced to acknowledging there are millions of us second-class citizens. We should just refuse to participate and tell them just forget about us like you do the other 9 years and 364 days.
Someone needs to look at Cynthia Endo and see why she does not want to count us? Does she have a right wing agenda to Help out? Is she trying to supress the truth that we exist and are able to have long term stable relationships and families?
To not count us smacks of Right Wing Agenda.
Tom in Long Beach
LMAO!
Gays? We don’t have them here in the U.S.A like you do in other countries.