Did you fill out your Census forms?

This week, the U.S. Census made it official that over 7 out of 10 (72%) of all American households have responded and mailed back their completed 2010 Census forms – roughly on par with the mail-in participation results by this date in the 2000 Census. Beginning Monday, May 3, thousands of Census representatives will ask the rest of us to complete our forms.

Reviewing the 2000 Census just ten years ago, we learned that same-sex couples actually live in 99.8 percent of all counties in the United States – and much more. As Dr. Lee Badgett, Research Director at the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, notes, “Census data have done more to make LGBT families and their needs visible than any other source of data we have.”

Now that we know how much it matters, how does your own community stack up among leaders in 2010 Census participation rates? How does your hometown or zip code compare with others? For participation rates at the state, county and even the zip code level, take a look at 2010.census.gov/2010census/take10map/.

Knowing the importance of this year’s Census count, especially with greater emphasis on counting same-sex coupled households – keep in mind, that the next critical phase of the 2010 Census begins next week when thousands of Census trackers go door to door to find the 45 million households still left uncounted, including LGBT households.

For more background on the 2010 Census, check out www.2010census.gov. Be sure to visit www.ourfamiliescount.org for details specifically for LGBT households – with questions and answers found there in both English and Spanish.

Our Own Voices, Our Own Words: Video Testimonials by LGBT Leaders for the 2010 Census

It’s not too late to fill out and return your 2010 Census form, as 19 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community leaders remind us in their own words.

Our Families Count joins again with the U.S. Census this week to officially release 18 new, unscripted testimonial videos that highlight the priorities and views of 19 LGBT community leaders from across the spectrum – each urging full LGBT participation in the 2010 Census.

All testimonials may be found at www.youtube.com/uscensusbureau, and are included among the U.S. Census’ “Trusted Voices" section.

Is it time to "queer the Census?"

The 2010 U.S. Census aims to count same-sex couples for the first time in history, but single LGBT Americans have no way to record their sexual orientation or transgender status.

That has prompted some activists to get creative.

Jaime Grant, director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's Policy Institute, says her group decided to print up pink stickers for single LGBT people to affix to their Census forms this year, with the goal of persuading the government to include questions about sexual orientation and gender identity in the 2020 Census.

Bob Witeck's Top 10 Reasons to Take Part in the 2010 Census

TOP 10 REASONS WHY I AM TAKING PART IN THE 2010 CENSUS
by Bob Witeck

A couple of weeks ago, our Census form arrived. As promised.

I wasn’t really surprised since the Census sent us a postcard telling us to expect it.

My husband and I planned to respond, but then figured we should probably take down our Christmas decorations first. Not to mention cleaning up after our New Year’s Party (I’m just kidding, we didn’t have a New Year’s Party and everyone knows that habitual procrastinators don’t need real excuses anyway.)

It did occur to me, however, that before we actually fill out the Census form, I should come up with the top 10 reasons why I ought to do it today. And that will buy me a just a little more time to think about it.

Check out the list after the jump.

10. Congress requires us to respond to the Census just once every 10 years.

Well, it actually begins with our Constitution, which tells Congress to conduct a complete and accurate count of the American people every decade. After all, when you write and pass laws, it probably helps to know how many lives you touch, and how to improve them.

I have to admit following the rules isn’t as hard for me since I sat in first grade with Sister Mary Saint Mark. If you crossed a storm trooper with a nun, well, you get the idea. She was the law.

9. The Census is one of the best ways to make sure federal funding is shared and spent in fair proportions.

This is simple. My family included 2 parents, 4 sisters and 2 brothers when I was growing up, and every dinner, and especially every dessert was divided 9 ways. If we failed to count portions accurately, then I risked losing my equal 1/9th share of the prize.

Okay, we’re adults now, but the idea is actually pretty much the same. Federal dollars support highways and schools, medical facilities and environmental protections, many smart ways that fix or improve the services and facilities we have in our communities. Who doesn’t want a fair return for the taxes we pay?

8. Everyone’s doing it. Answering the Census, that is.

The 2010 Census forms have been sent to every address in America, and everywhere they can find people. It’s not easy, but they have made an amazing effort this year in countless languages and to many of the most distant and unusual places to invite us to fill out our forms.

What makes me most proud is that they’ve made an historic commitment this year to include all LGBT households as never before. They have dedicated many field specialists and contacts to work within our community groups to educate and recruit help, and we have even worked with our Census folks to establish a unique public education campaign, “Our Families Count” (www.ourfamiliescount.org) that couldn’t make it any easier to find out everything we all need to know.

7. Same-sex couples really do count.

Some of us are annoyed that not one of the questions in this year’s Census asks about sexual orientation, or about gender identity and expression. While there are questions about gender and about race and ethnicity, they won’t yet ask us if we also call ourselves lesbian, gay, or bisexual, for example.

I hope one day they will, but in the meantime, this year for the first time ever the Census form will enable many of us living in same-sex committed relationships to answer honestly and accurately how we define our intimate relationship with one another. I have been with my own husband for 15 years, and I regret we cannot yet lawfully marry nor register even as partners in our state – but that doesn’t stop us from telling the Census that not only are we adult partners of the same sex, but we also consider ourselves husbands. (And for my coupled lesbian friends, they can call themselves wives on the Census form.)

Some same-sex couples may not think of themselves as husbands (or as wives), and instead wish to answer that question by calling themselves “unmarried partners,” as they choose. That’s a perfectly fine choice too.

And in doing so, we will be able to be counted as we live, and described more accurately in the way we see each other. That is a major step forward, and why the 2010 Census probably matters most to me and my husband.

6. For transgender Americans, why not be yourselves too?

I cherish my friends who are transgender. They also tell me they have faced many more struggles than I have to be themselves and to be seen and accepted as the gender they are. And not necessarily the gender that was recorded on their birth certificate or often on their driver’s license.

But the Census doesn’t define you, you define yourself. If you live as a man, regardless of the driver’s license you may have or another piece of identification, be confident to tell the Census that you are a male. If you live as a woman, and regardless what your license or another identification card may say about you, then tell the Census you are a female.

I can’t say for sure but I think that is very liberating too, and one more way under the law, that we can truthfully be ourselves.

5. Our answers are private. Really.

I’ve checked the federal laws, and spoken with the folks at the Census. The brief information we share on the form is not shared with others. By law, our response is protected and used only for its intended purpose and that is to achieve an accurate count. It will not be shared with law enforcement authorities, immigration authorities or tax officers. No one else.

Some of us have reason to be anxious when we know other promises made are not always promises kept, laws or no laws. I’ve thought it over, and one way to ease our minds would be to keep supporting and sending contributions to some of the top legal rights and privacy watchdogs like the ACLU and Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund – because I am confident they will also look out for us.

4. It’s easy. I mean so easy.

Let’s face it. For some of us sudoku is hard (my hand is up). So is completing the New York Times crossword puzzle and the 1040 IRS form. It’s easy to put off those challenges, since they tax the brain and really take time with no guarantee of success.

But the 2010 Census really is only ten questions in less than ten minutes. When my husband and I glanced at the form, and both of us prepared to answer it – the hardest thing for us was to decide who is Person 1 and who is Person 2 on the form!

I wish the U.S. Census would spend the next nine years rewriting our tax forms now.

3. By filling out the form and mailing it back, we can save millions of dollars.

Really? Yep, I checked. For each of us who takes the ten minutes to fill out our form and send it back, that just means the fewer doors to knock on, the fewer sidewalks and neighborhoods to navigate and the need to recruit and pay fewer workers to ask us to fill out forms in person.

That makes perfect sense, and if we save some dollars for the federal government, I hope that means we can save tax dollars and even benefit other programs that we really do care about.

2. When LGBT households answer the Census, it makes some people mad.

Huh? Well, imagine our adversaries and those leaders and organizations that are most adamant that we be denied our full, equal rights. Or tell us just to stay in the closet and never be seen, nor heard, nor counted. Some even have complained to the U.S. Census that we should not be counted as same-sex couples or as married couples under law in those jurisdictions where marriage equality is a fact.

For generations, many Americans have been spoon-fed lies and distortions about who we are, where and how we live. They often don’t want to believe that some of us are raising children or living next door to them, and they believe wrongly that we all are rich and privileged and mostly undeserving of equal respect and rights.

The Census is perhaps the one best way to put an end to some of the myths and distortions and to educate everyone about our families. I say it’s payback.

And finally, the Number One and best reason, having our community count fully and truthfully in the Census community is rewarding.

How can it not be? When we count ourselves, we count to others.

For years, we have fought injustice and inequality by standing up for ourselves and by being visible. Coming out is a first step in terms of acceptance and inclusion, and the best way that unfair barriers in workplace discrimination or the ban on serving openly in our military will be repealed.

The Census is not yet a perfect way to count all of us, but it is a real start. It is now and it will long be the gold standard in helping define truthfully who we are as American people. Lesbians and gay men, bisexuals and transgender Americans deserve to be counted,

It’s time to mail our form back today.


Bob Witeck is CEO and co-founder of Witeck-Combs Communications. He and his partner, Bob Connelly, live in Arlington, Virginia, where Bob Witeck is known as Person 1, and Bob Connelly is known as Person 2 (but not without a few coin tosses.) Bob Witeck is also a proud partner and media coordinator for Our Families Count.

Quote of the Day: Brad Sears

"Census 2010 is a once-in-a decade opportunity to gain critical information about the LGBT community. It will provide accurate data to inform policies ranging from LGBT people serving in the military to marriage. Making sure you are counted is just as important as voting. While voting on a ballot measure might impact one of your rights; participating in the Census will impact all of your rights for the next decade." - Brad Sears, Executive Director of the Williams Institute

The importance of the 2010 Census to the gay community

Che Ruddell-Tabisola, coordinator of Our Families Count, a new campaign by the U.S. Census Bureau to reach the LGBT community, and Bob Witeck, CEO of Witeck-Combs Communications and the media coordinator for Our Families Count, discuss the importance of the 2010 Census to gay people and its role in shaping government policies and laws.

I got my form in the mail yesterday!

Attention Gay Colorado! Make sure you're counted this census

According to Freedom to Marry, from 1990 to 2006, the number of same-sex couples in Colorado increased by 648%.

With the 2010 Census coming up and officially counting same-sex couples for the first time, it'll be interesting to see how those numbers will change.

The U.S. Census Bureau took part in Creating Change

This is news from last month but I missed it the first time around and think it's pretty interesting stuff.

The US Census Bureau sent some representatives to the recent Creating Change conference. The website says:

In support of a complete and accurate count, 2010 Census partnership specialists who work with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities attended the 22nd National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change. As in every decade, the census takes a new portrait of America, reflecting both our growth and our increasingly diverse population. Throughout its 220-year history, the census has evolved to accurately reflect our changing society, and the growing number of same-sex couples and marriages is just the latest societal change.

2010 Census: Make sure gay families count

Participate in the 2010 Census and make your voice count! For the first time, the U.S. Census Bureau will include married same-sex spouses as part of its decennial count of American households and families. These statistics, along with counts of unmarried same-sex partners that the Census has reported previously, will help produce more accurate counts of LGBT people and our families in federal data. Census forms arrive at households in March. Find out more about the 2010 Census form today!

This Census, make sure Our Families Count

With official launch of the nation’s once-in-a-decade national count – the 2010 U.S. Census -- just a few weeks away (March 2010), Our Families Count expands endorsements this month to over 80 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender nonprofit and straight allied leaders at the national, state and community levels – plus LGBT business leaders and academics. 

 

Census reaching out to LGBT Americans

In March, American households everywhere will receive their 2010 Census forms in the mail: an important civic milestone that happens only once every ten years.

What makes this year’s Census even more historic is the unprecedented and welcoming outreach by U.S. Census leaders and managers to include the entire lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) and allied community in these efforts, as a way to achieve the nation’s most accurate count possible.

Dr. Robert Groves, Director of the U.S. Census Bureau, endorsed this initiative: “We are charged each ten years to provide Congress with a Census they trust to be accurate and complete. We are grateful to our LGBT community partners in helping us achieve this significant responsibility, and to help educate, motivate and inspire everyone to take part and above all, to be visible and counted.”

More after the jump.

For this initiative, the U.S. Census recruited and deployed nearly two dozen Census Bureau Partnership Specialists across the country specifically to work with LGBT community groups and leaders. All of these specialists are working with Che Ruddell-Tabisola who was tapped by the U.S. Census to serve as national LGBT partnership leader and as the primary bridge between the LGBT-inspired community campaign called Our Families Count.

Many of these U.S. Census Partnership Specialists will join Rudell-Tabisola by attending this year’s Creating Change conference in Dallas, Texas, starting on Wednesday, February 3.

This census, make sure our families count

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, joined leaders and advocates among the LGBT community today in the launch of Our Families Count (www.ourfamiliescount.org) -- a new voluntary public education initiative promoting LGBT visibility and participation in next year’s U.S. Census.

"It is vital that every LGBT person participate in the Census,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. "Census data allows LGBT families to be visible in a way like no other, and that is why HRC is a proud member of the Our Families Count partnership."

The new 2010 Census education project is a truly collaborative and unique strategy to unite disparate populations across the entire LGBT spectrum. The outreach effort is designed to educate all about the importance of responding to the once-a-decade Census.

Make sure our families count in the next census

"Our Families Count" is a campaign being launched by two dozen LGBT groups to encourage participation in the 2010 U.S. Census, which will be the first to track the number of same-sex couples who describe themselves as being married.

For more information on the 2010 U.S. Census click here.

2010 Census will be first to include gay data

The results of the 2010 U.S. Census, which for the first time will include data on the number of same-sex spouses, are expected to be cited by LGBT-rights advocates to back the need for new equality measures, as well as their anti-gay opponents to block LGBT progress.

"If they don't have the numbers in front of them, it's easier for the government to rationalize acting like we don't exist," said Judy Verratti, a Georgetown University law student and Washington, D.C., resident who married her partner in California in June of last year.

Census 2010 to list same-sex marriages, unions

Under a plan being developed by the White House, same-sex marriages, civil unions and domestic partnerships are set to be included in the 2010 U.S. Census. Currently, same-sex relationships are listed in census figures in the broader "unmarried partners" category. The Obama administration reportedly doesn't believe the Defense of Marriage Act would preclude the measurement of data on marriages and other same-sex unions.

US Census results show that gay and straight couples are very similar

Married couples in the U.S. -- both straight and gay -- on average are about 50 years old and make about $90,000 a year, with about 40% having children living with them and 80% owning their home, according to demographic data from the U.S. Census Bureau. The research on married couples is the first to include census participants who list a spouse but who may not be legally connected because of a marriage ban in their state.

Michael Steele accuses Obama administration of planning to "rig the Census"

In an official statement today from Michael Steele, Chairman of the Republican National Committee, he says that "it seems the Obama Administration has plans to rig the Census results," because the group ACORN has been chosen to partner with the Census Bureau to help determine population counts.

Accusing the Obama administration of rigging the Census? That really seems beyond the pale, doesn't it?

Michael Steele's had a history of gaffes in his short tenure as RNC chairman but this is just really out there.

Good News/Bad News: Gay Marriage and the 2010 Census

The good news is that there are states out there that allow gay marriages. The bad news is that, thanks to DOMA, state-sanctioned gay marriages are not recognized by the federal government and won't be counted on the next Census.

The War on Gay People, Part 2: U.S. Census to ignore gay marriage

This is lame, to say the least. Click here to read how the next Census in 2010 will deny the existence of tens of thousands of legal gay marriages. Boo!