Last Two Census Counts Edited Out Gay/Lesbian Couples; Gay Groups Hope it Doesn't Happen in 2010

The U.S. Census is supposed to chronicle the changing American demographic. But, because of the infrequency of the count — every ten years, its reflection of the social fabric has always been slightly delayed. For the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community especially, this delay has been particularly counterproductive to describing its population. The Census questionnaire asks the relationship of all members of a household to each other, as well as their sex. In the 1990 Census, when members of same-sex couples would mark that they were married to a person of the same sex, the data readers would edit the responses to reflect the status of a heterosexual married couple - by changing the sex of one of the respondents. In 2000, same-sex couples who reported themselves as married would have their status changed to un-married. The tabulation of this edited data essentially recorded misguided statistics about married, and even non-married, same-sex couples. Full Story from SDNN: http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-10-31/politics-city-county-government/gay-community-hopes-for-accuracy-in-census-2010

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Census Bureau Puts Off Counting Gay Marriages Until 2020, Citing "Statistical Problems"

The U.S. Census Bureau is making an unprecedented effort to include same-sex couples in next year's national population count, but legally married gay couples won't show up as such in the official once-a-decade tally, bureau representatives said Thursday. Statistical problems related to the development of the 2010 census form and the evolving legal state of same-sex relationships led Census officials to conclude that trying to include married gay couples in the overall snapshot of household marital status could yield an inaccurate number, said Gary Gates, a University of California, Los Angeles demographer who has been advising the bureau on gay issues. Instead, same-sex married couples will be added into the category for unmarried partners, just as they were for the 2000 census. But in a marked policy departure, the agency plans to make the data on same-sex couples who described themselves as married available on a state-by-state basis. Full Story from The AP: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jG5nvKt-JnOIr1KTFOmV-xXDM2FwD9BGGEA80

Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook - just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you'll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We're also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

150K Same Sex Couples in Marriage Relationships in 2008, Census Says

Nearly 150,000 same-sex couples reported being in marriage relationships last year, many more than the number of actual weddings and civil unions, according to the first U.S. census figures released on same-sex marriages. About 27 percent of the estimated 564,743 total gay couples in the United States said they were in a relationship akin to "husband" and "wife," according to the Census Bureau tally provided to The Associated Press. That's compared with 91 percent of the 61.3 million total opposite-sex couples who reported being married. A consultant to the Census Bureau estimated there were roughly 100,000 official same-sex weddings, civil unions and domestic partnerships in 2008. Full Story from AP: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gCdZqWgPVPTXeB1bQGw_j7YOIvHAD9AS4OA82

Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com with "subscribe blog" as the subject. Or find us on Facebook - just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you'll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We're also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.