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Gay Advocacy Group Wants U.S. Census Bureau to 'Queer the Census'

by Rhonda J Mangus | March 19, 2010 at 03:15 am

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The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has partnered with the GLBT Community Center of Colorado and Credo Action to launch "Queer the Census."

"Queer the Census" is an effort designed to highlight the importance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Americans participating in the 2010 Census. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has partnered with Credo Mobile to “sign the petition asking the U.S. Census Bureau to Queer the Census".

Queer the Census Kit

The campaign provides a pink sticker that says, “Attn: U.S. Census Bureau: It’s time to count everyone!” and provides a checklist that allows you to check off lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or straight. You can then use the sticker to seal your census form.

The free "Queer the Census" sticker is available at CREDO action and should be ordered before midnight March 22nd so it is received in time to mail with your 2010 Census form on April 1st.

Registering GLBT Individuals and Couples

"LGBT people are basically invisible in the survey that is supposed to reflect the diversity of America's population — and that's a big problem,"

The picture of the US in the 2010 Census, and as portrayed in previous U.S. Bureau Census', does not include LGBT Americans, even though the US 2010 Census will count gay married couples. There is still no way for a person to identify individually as either gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered American.

Although transgender respondents are able to mark the "sex" that they identify with, there will be no way of specifically recording a person's transgender identity on the form. Similarly, although the census will count gay and lesbian partners, individual gay, lesbian and bisexual citizens will have no place to record their sexuality.

Implications of Misrepresenting the GLBT Population

The failure to include LGBT Americans in the census will result in unequal representation in government and unequal access to distribution and allocation of federal funding.

The data that is gathered in the census helps to create a picture of the nation. Among other things, the information collected in the census is used to ensure the correct distribution of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. It is also used in the allocation of 400 billion in federal funds for hospitals, job training centres, schools, and senior centres.