LGBT Visibility in the 2010 Census

This post is from Tom Sullivan, HRC’s family project deputy director:

Yesterday marked the official launch of the OurFamiliesCount.org website which will promote LGBT visibility and participation in next year’s U.S. Census.

This online public education campaign is a collaboration of LGBT community and allied groups that will motivate LGBT Americans to take part in the 2010 U.S. Census. HRC is a proud member of this coalition. The website has both English and Spanish language versions.

Although the 2010 Census does not include questions on sexual orientation or gender identity, the Census does count same-sex partners and their families, which in turn, provides vital information for and about the LGBT community.

In explaining why the 2010 Census matters to the LGBT community, Dr. Gary Gates of the Williams Institute said that “Americans have many misconceptions about the LGBT community that Census data have allowed us to correct.  For example, among those in same-sex couples: one in six lives in a rural area, one in four is a person of color, one in five is raising children (two in five among people of color).”

The Our Families Count website is a centralized resource on Census information for the LGBT community. Find information about the questions that appear on the Census and how the resulting statistics on same-sex couples will be reported. You can also learn about efforts to get sexual orientation and gender identity questions on the census or on other important federal survey instruments in the future.

OurFamiliesCount.org will also help dispel common myths and misconceptions about the decennial population count. Census information is never shared with other U.S. government agencies for the purpose of law enforcement or compliance with immigration laws.  The Census is never used to violate any person’s privacy.

So watch for those Census forms in the mail in March 2010 and make sure that your family gets counted.