The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has launched "Queer the Census," attempting to petition the census to start counting members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.UPDATE 4/6/10: Census Bureau Urges Same-Sex Couples to Be Counted, ‘Married’ or Not
-- From "GLBT community pressing for census question to declare sexual orientation" by Tom McGhee, The Denver Post 3/16/10
The task force is distributing hot pink "It's Time To Count Everyone" stickers that can be affixed to the census form return envelope. Respondents can check a box on the sticker to identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or a straight ally.
"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," says the queerthecensus.org website.
Data collected through the census are used to determine political representation and direct federal funds to state and local governments. Campaign organizers worry that GLBT communities won't receive the funding if they aren't counted as groups.
The 2010 census is the first that allows same-sex couples who report themselves as legally married to be counted as married.
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