Why the Census Matters to the LGBT Community

Every 10 years, under our Constitution, the U.S. Census Bureau attempts to conduct an accurate count of all Americans and households, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans and our families. Census statistics guide many vital government decisions. Federal and state governments use census numbers to form congressional district boundaries and to distribute billions of dollars for social services. Non-profit organizations use census statistics to plan services for individuals and their families, influencing the locations for schools, roads and hospitals, for example.

Check out the Williams Institute's wonderful site about the importance of the census to all LGBT citizens. Stand up and be counted!

We're here. We're queer. And we want you to ask us about it.

via Queer the Census

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.

You read that right: LGBT people are basically invisible in the survey that is supposed to reflect the diversity of America's population – and that's a big problem.

The data collected impacts issues critical to every American – like our health care, our economic stability, and even our safety. And when LGBT people aren't counted, then we also don't count when it comes to services, resources ... you name it.

It's past time to Queer the Census! Sign the petition to demand that the census ask the question and count everyone!

AND...

Seal your census envelope with your FREE Queer the Census sticker! Census forms will arrive in the Spring, so get enough for yourself and your family members now!

2010 Census Will Count Same-Sex Couples

via NPR

Next year, for the first time, the United States census will count same-sex couples who identify themselves as spouses. Previously these people were identified as unmarried partners. Guest host Jennifer Ludden discusses the effort and its implications for the gay rights movement with demographer Gary Gates; he's a senior research fellow at the UCLA School of Law, and a member of "Our Families Count," a census advocacy campaign for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Listen.

2010 Census to Count Gay Couples - HELL YEAH

Census Count of Same-Sex Couples to Stir Policy Fights

via Washington Post, by Carol Morello

The numbers should be eye-popping.

When the U.S. Census Bureau counts same-sex married couples next year, demographers expect hundreds of thousands to report they are spouses -- even though legal same-sex weddings in the United States number in the tens of thousands.

Gay advocates say they plan to use "A Census that Reflects America's Population," as the Census Bureau calls its plan to report same-sex marriage statistics, to push for legislative and policy initiatives, while groups opposed to same-sex marriage weigh a counteroffensive.

Particularly at the state and local levels, gay advocacy groups say census data on income for same-sex couples will show the need for more protections against job discrimination. Statistics on households with children will help them challenge laws limiting gay adoptions and legal guardianship. With raw numbers to illustrate the need, it will be easier to demand services, they say.

"Why does the census ask if people are young or old, black or white, married or single?" said Joe Salmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, which promotes civil rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. "It's because we want to understand if the country is meeting the public-policy needs of those Americans. That's particularly so for LGBT Americans."

Read the rest.