The U.S. Census Bureau will make an official count of same-sex couples next spring while LGBT activists will attempt to “queer the census” with a grassroots write-in campaign.

Statistics on same-sex couples have been available through analyzing Census data since 1990, but the 2010 count brings a new — out and open — approach in counting gay couples and reporting the statistics.

“This is a real change from the way we’ve been treated in the past,” said Molly McKay of Marriage Equality USA.
In 1990, the Census Bureau added “unmarried partner” to its Census questionnaire, and thus independent researchers, by looking at gender, could count same-sex unmarried couples.

Couples could do the same in 2000.

And, with the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, a new opportunity opened for the head of a household, when listing others in the residence, to check “husband or wife” and be counted as same-sex married household.

But the Bush administration determined that the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act prohibited federal agencies from tabulating and reporting data on same-sex marriages. Thus, the administration directed the bureau to recategorize same-sex couples who identified as “married” in the Census to “unmarried.”

For the past two years, activists, lawmakers and government employees have advocated changing that policy before Census forms go out in March 2010.

“We have followed with great concern news reports that the U.S. Census Bureau intends to continue ‘scrubbing’ data on same-sex married couples in its 2010 Census public reports,” a coalition of lawmakers wrote Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget, in May 2009.

“We are very concerned with this planned data modification and request your leadership in ensuring the Census Bureau adopt acceptable methods for identifying same-sex married couples in its publicly released data.”

Additionally, activists representing about 25 organizations met with administration and Census officials.

“We drew a line in the sand,” said Jaime Grant, director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.

And they won, securing more than a reversal of policy. The bureau committed to counting same-sex couples — married and unmarried — next year, as well as officially releasing the statistics.

“The data set is going to be rich,” said Timothy Olson, an assistant division chief with the U.S. Census Bureau. “This will be a powerful data set and it will play a significant role in all of the issues on the political side, the social side, healthcare, housing, public transportation.”

“We really see it as the door opener on changing the way the feds think about LGBT questions,” “The Census is our Trojan horse.”

Earlier this month, the bureau announced the launch of its first-ever Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Complete Count Committees in California in preparation for the 2010 Census.

The committees are locally driven efforts to educate and engage people to complete the Census, and they exist to reach into a variety of communities, especially traditionally under-counted communities.

“Our goal is to sign up and engage 120,000 [community representatives] to spread the word about the Census — that it is safe, easy and simple,” Olson said. “We are really focused on the partnership program.”

The outreach dates back to 1990, when the bureau sought to reverse a decline in mail-in responses to the Census.
“We are really fortunate in 2010 to have a community outreach program that is about five times larger than 2000,” Olson said. And, he said, 2000 was substantially larger than 1990.

The outreach is important because the bureau’s task is to make an accurate assessment of the U.S. population. The U.S. Constitution mandates the count: “Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers.… The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct.”

“People don’t understand the real impact of the Census in our society,” Olson said. “Redistricting. Reapportionment. Legislation. Funding. It really has a huge impact as to how we are represented in our democracy and on the level of funding. $300 billion a year is based on Census data.”

Researchers — most prominently those associated with the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law — have analyzed Census data and surveys in the past to document discrimination based on sexual orientation, to estimate the number of same-sex couples and to learn about the make-up of their families, their incomes and their healthcare situations.

“In 1990, we said, ‘Check the box,’” Grant said. “And in 2000, we said, ‘Check the box.’ Couples did. And we’ve been able to use that data to tell the story of our community.”

But there is more to the story, she said.

In addition to releasing official data about same-sex couples in the 2010 Census, the bureau plans to incorporate questions about same-sex couples in the American Community Survey, a bureau project that replaced the long-form questionnaire in the decennial Census.

The bureau has no plans to ask about sexual orientation or gender identity in 2010, but a nationwide “Queer the Census” campaign may provide the bureau with some numbers anyhow.

“We’re thrilled we’re going to see LGBT marriage in the Census,” Grant said. “But many of us are unpartnered and we should be just as visible. So we are very excited about this campaign.”

Through the campaign at www.queerthecensus.org, people can get a pink and purple “Queer the Census” sticker to affix to the back of their Census mailer.

On the sticker, people can check a box for all that apply — lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and straight ally. The sticker proclaims, “Everyone deserves to be counted. It’s time to queerthecensus.org.”

“But they are going to see a million pink and purple stickers,” Grant said. “We’re really hoping ‘Queer the Census’ is going to catch fire.”