Counting same-sex couples

The 2010 Census will provide some long overdue new information.

The federal government and the state of Texas won’t recognize Noel Freeman’s eight-year relationship with another man as marriage, but the 2010 U.S. census will.

For the first time, the census will publish data on same-sex spouses who self-identify as married on their census forms, even though they cannot legally wed in Texas or 44 other states.

“There is a benefit to demonstrating that gay and lesbian couples are more common than some people might think,” Freeman said, “and I think that it’s important for people to know that yes, we are out there, and yes, we do take our relationships seriously.”

[…]

Although the legality of same-sex marriage is a contentious issue, census officials say they simply want an accurate snapshot of how all Americans see themselves and their relationships.

The data collected by the Census Bureau will “shine a light” into the nation’s LGBT communities, said Gabriel Sanchez, director of the Dallas Regional Census Center.

“It is not our purpose to count sexual orientation,” he said. “We don’t ask about sexual orientation, but what we have done is we will record and will publish that people are same-sex married.”

Sounds about right to me. The data is what it is, and the Census Bureau shouldn’t be in the business of telling people they really aren’t what they say they are. And I’m glad the story was presented this way, without any “balancing” quotes from the professionally homophobic and their delusions about the end of civilization. It’s just data.

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