US Census Bureau Plans to Publicly Release 2010 Counts of Lesbian and Gay Marriage

The Census Bureau will for the first time publicly release the number of gay marriages reported in a decennial census, as it plans to release raw data about same-sex relationships in the 2010 headcount, according to new guidelines released today. The decision reverses a Bush-era policy that prohibited the release of the data. In a legal opinion published last week, Commerce Department lawyers concluded that the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act does not prohibit the Census Bureau from publicly releasing the data, contrary to the conclusions reached by Bush administration lawyers. Continuing current policy, the new guidelines state that software used by Census enumerators will recode answers given by same sex-partners who mark their relationship status as "husband or wife," to "unmarried partner." But then, in late 2011, Census officials will for the first time release the raw state-by-state data on same-sex couples that marked their relationship status as "husband or wife." Full Story from the Washington Post

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