Counting Same-Sex Couples in the 2010 U.S. Census

by Michael Jones · 2009-06-20 08:20:00 UTC
Topics:

Census

The White House has announced that the U.S. Census Bureau will count gay and lesbian married couples in the 2010 U.S. Census, reversing an earlier policy put in place by the Bush administration (and which for a period of time, the Obama administration seemed to defend).  This is great news...and hey, is it a sign that as influential and wealthy LGBT donors start to shut their pocketbooks to the Obama administration and the DNC, that these folks are starting to listen to issues important to LGBT voters?

Technical changes to the census have already started to be identified by administrators in order to accurately count gay and lesbian couples, according to Census Bureau spokeman Steve Jost.  Here's what Jost told the AP:

[Same-sex couples] will be counted, and they ought to report the way they see themselves.  In the normal process of reports coming out after the census of 2010, I think the country will have a good data set on which to discuss this phenomenon that is evolving in this country.

This is a massive reverse from last year, when the U.S. Census Bureau's director, Steven Murdock, said that the census couldn't count same-sex marriages because it was outlawed from doing so under the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

The census announcement also comes on the heels of a letter campaign from more than four dozen lawmakers in Congress, urging the Commerce Department (the Cabinet office that oversee the census) to make changes to better recognize same-sex couples.  And it's a good move.  Yes, it may be Obama reacting to criticism from LGBT voters, as opposed to mandating change because it's the right thing to do.  But props are deserved here for putting this change in place.

The census is one of the leading sources in determining social policy and data.  Federal funds are (in large part) heaped on places because of census counts.  Having an accurate count of same-sex couples also helps make the case that gays and lesbians in marriages are not invisible.  They exist, and they deserved to be counted.

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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