2010 Census Information

 

On Tuesday, March 9, 2010, HSYD participated in the LGBT Census Town Hall meeting hosted by Equality Texas.  At the meeting, representatives of the U.S. Census laid out the importance of all citizens participating in the 2010 Census; in particular stressing the fact that LGBT families have an opportunity to be counted in the Census.  We wanted to share the details of this meeting for those who were unable to attend!

Above all else, the Census is about SELF-INDENTIFICATION.  If you consider your relationship to be that of a married couple, you should indicate as such.  The same is true for gender identity.

What’s new for Census 2010?
 Census 2010 will include questions on only five topics:
1. Age
2. Sex
3. Race/Ethnicity
4. Relationship
5. Tenure (Rent/Own your home)

How will Census count the LGBT population?
Census 2010 will NOT include questions about sexual orientation or gender identity. However, there are issues in completing the Census form that may be of particular interest to the LGBT community. This brief provides information about these issues.
 


How are same-sex couples counted?
 The Census Bureau has announced that 2010 will be the first decennial census in which counts of both same-sex spouses and same-sex unmarried partners will be publicly released. In the past, they combined these two groups and reported them as same-sex “unmarried partners”.

This information is derived from the relationship question, which asks the person filling out the form to identify how all other individuals in the household are related to him or her.


Same-sex couples who have been legally married or consider themselves to be spouses should identify one person as a “husband or wife”.
Other same-sex couples may be more comfortable using the term “unmarried partner”. In general, this designation is designed to capture couples who are in a “close personal relationship” and are not legally married or do not think of themselves as spouses.

What about counting transgender individuals?
Census 2010 includes a question about each person’s sex.

Note that respondents may choose only one option. Transgender individuals will be counted within the sex that they choose. But the Census Bureau will not be able to separately identify transgender respondents.

Why It's Important!

Census information affects the numbers of seats your state occupies in the U.S. House of Representatives. And people from many walks of life use census data to advocate for causes, rescue disaster victims, prevent diseases, research markets, locate pools of skilled workers and more.

When you do the math, it's easy to see what an accurate count of residents can do for your community. Better infrastructure. More services. A brighter tomorrow for everyone. In fact, the information the census collects helps to determine how more than $400 billion dollars of federal funding each year is spent on infrastructure and services like:

  • Hospitals
  • Job training centers
  • Schools
  • Senior centers
  • Bridges, tunnels and other-public works projects
  • Emergency services