Breaking: Cenus to count us

We Did It!

Dear Supporter,

Yesterday was a good example of one of my favorite sayings, “You never know what a day will bring!”

Shortly after we sent an e-mail to you asking you to keep up the pressure on the Census Bureau, as part of our months-long campaign to make our lives visible, we got word that a Census Bureau spokesperson went on record indicating they will count and report the data on married same-sex couples in the 2010 census!

This is a huge win for the LGBT community and our allies. Thousands of you stood up and refused to allow same-sex marriages, our families and our children to be rendered invisible.

The Task Force has been pushing for months through meetings with Census Bureau and other administration officials in Washington, in formal letters and phone calls to make sure that the Census Bureau counts all marriages accurately rather than spending valuable time and resources to literally erase our very existence. We have, at every single meeting from the White House to the Census Bureau, conveyed that we had the support of thousands of you standing behind us demanding things change. Your voices were heard!

Now, all of our efforts have paid off and none of this would have been possible without you.

But we're not stopping here. While this is a huge victory for same-sex couples and everyone who cares about justice and equality, we still have a long way to go in making sure that more of us — married or unmarried — are accurately counted and visible in the many ways, the many surveys, conducted by the federal government. With your help, the Task Force will continue our work to make sure that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are finally included in the data and reporting that directly impacts the funding and programs for critical issues, including protections for our families, our health, and our safety.

Thank you so much for standing with the Task Force and taking action. Today we get to celebrate an incredible victory and it means so much to know that when we're out there fighting, you're right there with us — every step of the way.

We also would like to thank Gary Gates of the Williams Institute for his years of work and for partnering with us to educate the administration on this critical issue of visibility for our community. His efforts and your actions made all the difference in this fight.

Let’s keep up the work for full equality!



Sincerely,

Rea Carey, Executive Director
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund



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The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund, founded in 1974 as the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Inc., works to build the grassroots political power of the LGBT community to win complete equality. We do this through direct and grassroots lobbying to defeat anti-LGBT ballot initiatives and legislation and pass pro-LGBT legislation and other measures. We also analyze and report on the positions of candidates for public office on issues of importance to the LGBT community. The Task Force Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) non-profit corporation incorporated in New York. Contributions to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund are not tax deductible.




Remove yourself from this mailing.

Re Cmove yourself from all mailings from National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Or just infer based on your spouse?

They will be counting Same sex couples as couples , I believe is the plan

on the form. Gender is also marked on the form

In previous years, when a woman, for example, filled out the form the second person on the form was also a woman and was identified as the spouse of the first person that mark was erased (or the form rewritten) to change the relationship.

The Census bureau had announced they were going to do that again in 2010, and we have been fighting to have our legal relationships recognized - rather than falsely recorded.

thanks.

Thanks, now it makes perfect sense.

We didn't "correct" forms for marriage that year - but there were a few questions raised about the domestic partner (I forget the exact label) that a number of folks marked. People were told to leave them as they were marked. It was only when some started coming up marked as married that they "corrected" the forms.

Do you really want a government agent knocking on your door and asking you if you're gay or straight? Do you really want your response entered into government records? Do you really trust the present government, let alone the unknown government of the future, that much?

No offense intended, but if so, I think you're nuts.

Never mind what the Census chooses to do, I would imagine it is fairly easy for the federal government to find out who is in same sex marriages, by way of the public state records. Don't think that the feds don't already have access to that info.

as choices in the relationship section. "How is this person related to Person 1?"

It's page 14 here (pdf file) -

http://2010.census.gov/2010census/pdf/2010ACSnotebook.pdf

The Bureau states -

"The census subject about relationship is essential for classifying the population into families and other groups. Information about changes in the composition of the American family, from the number of people living alone to the number of children living with only one parent, is essential for planning and carrying out a number of federal programs. In federally funded nutrition and education programs, how the money is spent hinges, at least partially, on census data about relationship."

There's a marriage certificate on file asserting to this fact. The government already knows I'm gay.

I was talking about census takers asking for your sexual orientation, married or unmarried, as I tried to make clear in the text that I quoted. Think about the future consequences if our government shifts farther to the right.

to protect your info during your lifetime, or at least the average lifetime.

beyond the records being sealed. Maybe someone who works with the census could give you more information.
For myself, if the government decides at some later date that I need to be rounded up, I've no doubt that there are enough boxes ticked in enough other places that they won't bother to comb through the census looking for a reason.

Hiding is not as easy as you might think.

We respect states that choose to have legal gay marriage.

Looking ahead to DOMA repeal(which, for the Schoolhouse Rock lesson some of you need, has to be done by Congress before Obama can sign off on it), that should be framed in terms of states rights: the federal government should recognize and respect states who choose to legalize gay marriage since marriage is a benefit that is conferred by the states.

too late to audit

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