Stand Up and Be Counted!

This is beyond outrageous.

Census Bureau officials announced that they would waste time and money to remove any same-sex couple from being listed as married in the 2010 census survey. This expensive and insulting policy — a holdover from the Bush administration — simply cannot stand.

Yep, you heard me right. The census is supposed to count every head in the nation and punish those who lie on their surveys. But, in our community, the Census Bureau actually plans to spend money to go line by line un-counting our relationships — even our legally recognized marriages in California, Massachusetts and Connecticut.

You can help make sure our relationships stay visible. Stand up and be counted — sign our petition to the Census Bureau now demanding that our marriages be counted.

So, why go through all this trouble to pretend we don’t exist? A Census Bureau official actually said that, “This is all about the numbers. This is not about lifestyle or anything else.”

Lifestyle? Numbers? Is that what the Census Bureau thinks of our loving relationships?

This decision is a slap in the face to our community. The census may seem trivial, but the count will be used by Congress and federal agencies to distribute money, government resources and even representation in Congress for a decade to come.

More importantly, it’s just the latest example of our own government refusing to recognize the basic equality of our relationships to those of any straight couple. And this time, we won’t stay silent. Tell the Census Bureau that the time for these kinds of divisive policies is over.

Fortunately, it’s not too late for this decision to be overturned and for the bureau to start on the long road to a wholly inclusive census. With one stroke of the pen, President Obama can make sure our marriages are counted. But it can only happen if we make sure our voices are heard loud and clear today.

Everybody and every relationship should count in America; it's time the census counts our marriages too.

Sincerely,

Rea Carey,
Executive Director,
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund