Get counted! Why
the Census is crucial to gays
, 365gay.com
03.03.2010 8:00am EST
When gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender Americans receive their census forms this month,
they will have an historic opportunity to smash stereotypes – even though the
form ignores a large portion of the LGBT population.
So say activists and
demographers who also have this advice for LGBT people: Grit your teeth, fill
out the census form and return it on time. (See more on how to be counted in the census.) “Without data, you have no
community portrait, and without a portrait, you have no needs, you have no identity,
you have no funding; the census has always had a civil rights component to it,”
says Jaime Grant, the director of the Policy Institute at The National Gay and
Lesbian Task Force. The census is a
once-a-decade snapshot of the U.S. population counting lives where on Census
Day, April 1. The count determines the number of seats each state gets in the
U.S. House of Representatives. Census data also guides the distribution of $400
billion in federal funding for schools, hospitals and public safety. For minority groups like
LGBT Americans, the census is even more important. Census data can be used to
counter stereotypes, win court cases and break legal barriers. “The more
invisible we are, the more powerless we are, the less represented and the less
understood,” Grant says. The history of LGBT
Americans and the census is mixed. For the first 200 years of the census, LGBT
people were ignored. Lesbians and gays did not appear in the census until
1990. Even then, their appearance was an accident. That year the federal
government began collecting data on unmarried, heterosexual couples. This
allowed same-sex couples to make their presence known by checking the box on
the census form for “unmarried partners,” and then answering the question about
their gender. In 1990 about 190,000
same-sex couples revealed themselves on the census, Grant says. The U.S. Census
Bureau did not tabulate that data, but demographers were able to dig the
numbers out of the raw data published by the bureau. In 2000 about 600,000
same-sex couples came out on their census forms. Once again, the government did
not tabulate that data. However, the 2000 census turned out to be a pivotal
moment for the LGBT movement. Using raw numbers from that
census and from annual surveys conducted by the government, groups like UCLA’s
Williams Institute and the NGLTF Policy Institute produced the first in-depth
statistical portraits of same-sex couples. The findings were
startling, particularly for those who thought gays were all childless, white
yuppies. Same-sex couples were discovered to be of all races, and to live in
every state and nearly every county, including the most rural and conservative. “The big impact the census
data have had is to undermine many of the stereotypes in the political
discourse that often work against LGBT people,” says Gary Gates, the senior
demographer at the Williams Institute. “Same-sex couples certainly look a lot
like married (heterosexual) couples. They’re raising kids, they don’t all live
in urban areas, they own homes, and they serve in the military.” The 2000 Census uncovered
some of the struggles of lesbian and gay families. “We also learned that more
than 250,000 children were being raised in same-sex headed households, but
those children had poverty rates twice those of children raised in
heterosexual-married households,” says Che Ruddell Tabisola, the Census
Bureau’s national LGBT partnership leader. Gates called this year’s
census the most pro-LGBT in history. For the first time, same-sex couples who
refer to themselves as husband and wife will be counted, and the results will
be reported separately from heterosexual couples. The number of same-sex
couples that identify as unmarried partners will also be counted and reported. Also for the first time,
the Census Bureau has hired education and outreach specialists like
Ruddell-Tabisola and organized volunteer committees to increase LGBT
participation in the census. A third step forward is a Census Bureau study
designed to test and refine methods for counting same-sex relationships in the
future, Gates said. The 2010 Census, however,
will also put a huge hole in the LGBT population. While the census counts
same-sex couples, it does not identify those who are widowed, divorced or
single as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. Transgendered people will be counted
as the gender they identify with, but they will not be identified as
transgendered. This is because the form does not include a question about
sexual orientation or gender identity. This sets up some surreal
situations. Consider the case of an elderly Massachusetts lesbian who is
legally married to her long-term partner. If her spouse dies on March 31, the
day before the census is taken, she would be eliminated from the count of
same-sex couples. If her spouse dies on April 2, the day after Census Day, this
woman’s lesbian identity wouldremain intact. “We’re the ultimate
undercount,” says Grant of NGLTF. “We’re invisible across the board in data
collection. That’s an outrage, and it has to stop.” At the moment, the Census
Bureau does not appear to have any plans to add a question about sexual
orientation or gender identity to the next decennial census or to the Bureau’s
other demographic surveys, says Gates of the Williams Institute. Meanwhile, a
bill that would add questions about sexual orientation, gender identity and
domestic partnership status to government surveys conducted in California has
been introduced into the California Assembly. Adding any question to the
national census will take years of testing and political action. “The census is mandated by
the U.S. Constitution, and Congress has the ultimate authority over the census
questionnaire,” says Ruddell-Tabisola. “Each question is on the form because a
particular federal law requires that information to be collected. Currently,
there is no law asking for information on sexual orientation or gender identity
to be gathered by the census.” The best way to add a
question to the census, he says, is probably to pick up the telephone and “call
your Congressman.” Grant adds: “It’s going to
be a long road.” 