150K married gay couples in US

150,000 gay couples reported themselves as married last year according to the Census.

Census may not count gay marriages

Technical reasons might prevent the 2010 Census from counting same-sex married couples.

OBAMA: ADD GAYS TO CENSUS

White House: Census to better count gay couples

(Washington) The White House said Friday it is working to ensure the 2010 census produces a better count of same-sex couples, last week’s second policy announcement aimed at dampening rising anger in the gay community toward President Barack Obama.

“The president and the administration are committed to a fair and accurate …

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force applauds Census Bureau’s plan to count married same-sex couples

Task Force staffers have been meeting with officials from the White House, Census Bureau and Commerce Department to press for this policy reversal

WASHINGTON, June 20 -The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force applauds reports that the U.S. Census Bureau will count married same-sex couples in the 2010 census, reversing an earlier decision made under the Bush administration. Previously, same-sex couples only had the option of checking off ‘unmarried partner,’ which will remain an option. The Task Force has played a leading role in getting the Census Bureau to change course. Task Force staffers have been pressing for a reversal of the discriminatory policy in meetings that started in late 2008 with the Obama transition team, continuing later with officials from the White House, Census Bureau and Commerce Department.

tatement by Rea Carey, Executive Director National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

“This is a huge win for our community. Our community and allies stood up and refused to allow same-sex marriages, our

families and our children to be rendered invisible in the picture of our country provided through the census.

“After months and months of pressure through the grassroots campaign we waged and our in-person meetings with administration officials, the U.S. Census Bureau has reversed policy and will be accurately counting the thousands of same-sex couples who have worked so hard to have their love and commitment recognized.

“This gives us hope that we will also be able to get the federal government to include lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the data and reporting on other critical issues, including those having to do with our health, economic issues, safety and life circumstances. As a married person myself, I look forward to filling out the census form, knowing that my family will be counted accurately.

“We 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.”

The Task Force’s work leading to this victory

The Task Force has been working for months to secure a reversal of the discriminatory policy.

* Task Force staff met with Obama transition team members to educate them about this critical issue, and to provide concrete ways for them to make this change.

* Task Force staffers, including Executive Director Rea Carey and Policy Institute Director Jaime Grant, have been pressing for a policy change in meetings that started in late 2008 with the Obama transition team, continuing later with officials from the White House, Census Bureau and Commerce Department.

* In February, the Task Force Policy Institute convened 20 leading lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights organizations to meet with top census outreach officials. In this meeting, the groups collectively refused to engage in community outreach on the census until the anti-marriage policy was reversed.

* The Task Force partnered with the Williams Institute to provide officials from the White House, Census Bureau and Commerce Department with research essential to making this change.

* The Task Force undertook a major grassroots campaign to both educate the public on this issue and to apply pressure to the administration.

* The Task Force worked with key elected officials to provide them with

information so they could write letters to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and

the incoming director of the Census Bureau to advocate for change.

* The Task Force is part of a coalition of researchers and advocates

crafting a community education campaign to launch following the change of

policy.

* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual

Published by

Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/06/national-gay-…

2010 Census Will Count Same-Sex Couples In Reversal Of Bush Policy

U.S. Census Bureau officials said Friday that married same-sex couples will be counted as such in the 2010 national tally, reversing an earlier decision made under the Bush administration.

Steve Jost, a spokesman for the Census Bureau, said officials already were identifying the technical changes needed to ensure the reliability of the information, but remained committed to providing an accurate tally of gay spouses.

“They will be counted, and they ought to report the way they see themselves,” Jost said. “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.”

Same-sex couples could not get married anywhere in the United States during the last decennial count. But last summer, when two states sanctioned gay unions, the bureau said those legal marriages would go uncounted because the federal Defense of Marriage Act prevented the federal government from recognizing them.

See 2010 Census Will Count Same-Sex Couples In Reversal Of Bush Policy

* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual

Published by

Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/06/2010-census-w…

White House Looks to Include Same-Sex Unions in Census Count

WASHINGTON — The White House said Thursday it was seeking ways to include same-sex marriages, unions and partnerships in 2010 Census data, the second time in a week the administration has signaled a policy change of interest to the gay community.

The administration has directed the Census Bureau to determine changes needed in tabulation software to allow for same-sex marriage data to be released early in 2011 with other detailed demographic information from the decennial count. The bureau historically hasn’t released same-sex marriage data.

The gay community strongly supported President Barack Obama during the 2008 election. But some gay activists say they have been frustrated by what they see as his slow approach to rolling back discriminatory policies.

See White House Looks to Include Same-Sex Unions in Census Count

Wall Street Journal -

* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual

Published by

Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/06/white-house-l…

Census study of gay married couples finds similarities to husband-and-wife couples

Marriage — whether you are gay or straight — may be the great common denominator among American households, according to a new government study that offers a first-ever look at the nation’s same-sex couples who say they are spouses.

Married men and women average about 50 years old, and about four in 10 have kids living at home. The average couple pulls down a little over $90,000 a year and four in five own their home.

That demographic portrait doesn’t just fit the nation’s 56 million husband-and-wife couples. It also closely fits the roughly 340,000 households where two men call themselves husbands, or two women consider themselves wives.

In the midst of the nation’s widening debate over whether same-sex couples should be allowed to marry, the U.S. Census Bureau has quietly completed a statistical portrait of U.S. lesbian and gay couples who describe themselves as married. With same-sex marriage likely to be legal in as many as six states by Jan. 1, the study could add another layer to the debate.

Many of those gay and lesbian couples live in states where they cannot legally marry, and may be checking the spouse box on their census form to reflect a domestic partnership, a civil union or partnership where two lives have been merged into one household.

See Census study of gay married couples finds similarities to husband … San Jose Mercury News

* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual