Gay rights, civil unions, and the U.S. Census
In many pro-gay rights circles, there has been outrage that same-sex couples will not be properly counted during the 2010 Census. Here are some more details from change.org:
Whether the White House or the Commerce Department ends up controlling the 2010 U.S. Census doesn’t matter. The basic point about the 2010 U.S. Census is this: it will, once again, fail to accurately count this country’s LGBT population, and will completely and utterly discriminate against gay and lesbian families.
Why? Because of DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act. Citing DOMA, the U.S. government says that it would be illegal to count same-sex partners and identify them as gay and lesbian couples, since same-sex unions aren’t recognized on a federal level. Moreover, for same-sex couples who have children, the injustice is even graver. Same-sex couples with kids won’t even be listed as “families” on the 2010 U.S. census, and children will be listed as “belonging to single parents.”
