Census marks an opportunity for LGBT political win

(This post submitted by Gary Gates)

With marriage equality now established in six states, thousands of same-sex couples across the nation will likely be united in wedded bliss in the next year. While I'm sure they are excited by the legal and social recognition that marriage brings, these newly wedded couples might be surprised to learn that they will not be recognized as spouses in the upcoming 2010 US Census.

The Census Bureau policy established in 2000 alters the responses of same-sex husbands and wives in publicly released data, counting them instead as "unmarried partners". The Bureau argues that the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DoMA), which defines marriage for federal purposes as a "union between one man and one woman," prohibits it from counting same-sex spouses as such.

Really? A Census Bureau tabulation of same-sex spouses hardly amounts to federal recognition of same-sex marriages. It certainly won't garner same-sex couples even one of the more than a thousand federal rights associated with marriage. All it will do is count the tens of thousands of these couples who are married in this country.

As a demographer who studies the LGBT population, I have to admit that changing this policy will also mean better data for my work. Countering persistent and often pernicious myths constitutes an important component in advancing LGBT civil rights. For example, did you know that LGBT Americans are actually more likely than heterosexuals to be in poverty? That's the key finding from a report I recently co-authored with colleagues from The Williams Institute and the University of Massachusetts. It counters the oft-repeated myth of gay affluence. In part, we used data from the Census Bureau for that study. Perhaps more familiar to the readers of this blog, I also used Census data to estimate that there were 65,000 LGB men and women serving in the US military. Better and more accurate data will allow us to continue to replace myths and distortions with facts.

The US Census Bureau jeopardizes a well deserved reputation for quality and accuracy when it unnecessarily scrutinizes how a particular group of Americans, namely same-sex couples, organizes its families.

With the recent California Supreme Court ruling upholding Prop. 8, it's no surprise that LGBT Americans are a bit extra-sensitive these days around issues of public recognition of same-sex relationships. There's understandable pressure on the Obama administration to make some progress on this front. Counting same-sex spouses in the Census does not require any legislative action, just a change within Census Bureau tabulation procedures. That's what I call "low-hanging" fruit on the LGBT agenda-no courts, no votes, just the stroke of a pen from a supportive administration.

I've been writing about the problems with this process since I first started analyzing Census 2000 data as part of my book, The Gay and Lesbian Atlas, published five years ago. With the political leadership taking shape at the Commerce Department and within the Census Bureau (Gary Locke was confirmed as Secretary of Commerce and Dr. Robert Groves has been nominated to head the Census Bureau), now is the time to act. Fixing these Census procedures would mark a tangible first step for the Obama administration in acknowledging the relationships of same-sex couples.

Gary J. Gates is Williams Distinguished Scholar at the Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law and co-author of The Gay and Lesbian Atlas.