SHOCK: Census Waiting Another 10 Years to Count Married Gay Couples?
Weren’t we supposed to be celebrating our inclusion in the 2010 census? Too bad. You’re going to have to wait another 10 years.
Citing the scattered state-by-state legality of same-sex marriage, the U.S. Census Bureau will not count married gays as, uh, “married”; they will be listed as “unmarried partners.” Their gayness, however, will be counted in another way: Same-sex household coupling data will be recorded, and made available, on a state-by-state level.
How come? Changing the counting method revealed “a wildly inflated number could be produced if the number of heads of household who said they lived with another adult of the same sex, and described that person as a husband or wife, were only counted. Some couples in civil unions or domestic partnerships, or who live as spouses in states where gay couples have no spousal rights, have tended in past surveys to identify themselves as husbands or wives anyway, according to [Gary Gates, a University of California, Los Angeles demographer who has been advising the bureau on gay issues].”
And no matter how much quibbling, 2010′s methodology is “set in stone,” according to Tim Olsen, assistant chief of the bureau’s field division.
Now if we’re reading the excuses correctly, Census officials are afraid of overcounting the gays?
The annual American Community Survey the bureau produced for 2008, for example, had 150,000 married same-sex couples spread across every U.S. state, even though only two states — Massachusetts and for a 5-month period, California — allowed same-sex marriages. Gates estimates there are probably no more than 35,000 legally married gay couples in the country now.
This is no small matter. Census data is used in everything from deciding where to put voter polling outposts to how much cash the government hands out to certain projects. Going another 10 years without an official count of America’s married gays will only reinforce their invisibility.
I have refused to participate in the census until I’m a first class citizen in the law here. It doesn’t matter anyway…I live in a VERY red area of TN. I want to do nothing to get this region any extra clout in Congress or for federal funds.
Screw this. They had 5 years to figure out how to count gay couples correctly. They didn’t bother. That’s not the fault of gays and lesbians. Equal treatment.
I’m also boycotting the census.
Sigh. Why? Isn’t it easier to count them correctly, based on whether or not they are legally married, than to inaccurately interpolate? Will two platonic male roommates be considered a same-sex couple?
But though I have been an outspoken advocate for same-sex marriage for more than 20 years, even appearing on CNN in 1989, all this focus on couples is demoralizing for those of us who happen to be single. Should single LGBTs also be counted?
It sounds to me more like the problem is with people lying to the census.
How many unmarried heterosexuals report they are legally married on the Census? How large is this overcount? As a result, will the Census recode all opposite-sex married couples as unmarried partners?
If the issue stems from same-sex couples identifying they are legally married when they are not AND if the Census is going to do outreach work, why not try to educate gay Americans to answer correctly on the Census, put in language asking people to only list themselves as spouses if legally married, and count legally married gay Americans along with legally married heterosexuals?
If it makes sense, it’s not allowed.
Those cunts.
I think this is the first time I’ve ever used that word on the Internet. Ever.
That is one big pile of shit.
Fine, if they don’t want to count us as married–which we legally are–then they can just not count us at all. Fuck them. Hard. Preferably with something pointed and full of splinters.
It seems they would rather FALSIFY the count, than actually report the answers to the questions.
“We don’t like the answers we got to the questions that we asked, so we are going to change them”, is NOT a legitimate statistical methodology.
The people who made the decision to do so should be fired, for cause.
We were upset with the lack exclusion on the census so we are conducting our own study to show those who are waiting for Equality. http://www.gayandengaged.org Please help to let people know. We are in beginning stage of collecting and compiling data as well as further developing the members area. Get involved in a big way without leaving your home. Your voice and membership matters.
In common-law states where m/f couples are considered by that state to be married after X amt of time together (even if they don’t know it!!) people may still not check the box MARRIED.
Some m/ f couples in other states may see them selves as married even if they just skipped that whole marriage certificate thing (old people do this often… hi Aunt Dorrie ! )
What about co- habitating gay/ lesbian couples? Since legal marriage isnt an option in so many places they may say still they r married on the form.
Seems like the methods of the Census bureau reflect like the 1950s!!
Wake up & smell the chai!!