Post by MisterC on May 28, 2014 13:56:08 GMT -6
From MSNBC:
Gay Couples Count As Families,Census Bureau Says
If there’s one resounding takeaway from the domino-like legalization of marriage equality over the last year, it’s this: gay couples count.
Their relationships count, their constitutional rights count, their suffering counts, their children count. Now, that message has once again been affirmed in the most literal way imaginable.
For the first time in history, married same-sex couples will be counted as families by the U.S. Census Bureau.
According to the Washington Post, which first reported the change this week, the 2013 American Community Survey results – due in September – will include an estimated 180,000 same-sex married couples with statistics on the nation’s 56 million families.
Over the last decade, data on same-sex couples had been segregated from the broader research on families, and the Census had categorized same-sex spouses as unmarried partners. While the shift isn’t expected to have a significant impact on statistics, it does reflect a growing acceptance of full civil rights for gay and lesbian Americans, and lends greater legitimacy to their unions.
“I think the American public already thinks same-sex married couples are families, and the Census Bureau is just catching up with public opinion,” Andrew J. Cherlin, a sociologist at Johns Hopkins University who studies families, told the Washington Post.
The move comes nearly one year after the nation’s highest court brought an end to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and cleared the way for federal agencies to begin recognizing same-sex nuptials. In addition to the Census Bureau, the IRS, Treasury, State, Defense, and Justice Departments all updated their policies regarding same-sex marriage.
The DOMA ruling also set off an unprecedented expansion of marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples, bringing the total number of states where they can wed to 19, plus the District of Columbia. Federal judges have also struck down same-sex marriage bans in Idaho, Oklahoma, Virginia, Michigan, Texas, and Utah, though their decisions are on hold pending appeals.
North Dakota is currently the only state without a challenge to its same-sex marriage ban.
Link to MSNBC article = www.msnbc.com/msnbc/census-gay-couples-count-families
My take...
"I think the American public already thinks same-sex married couples are families, and the Census Bureau is just catching up with public opinion..."
As usual, government follows on this issue instead of leading. I guess it's just the nature of an institution that owes its existence to popular vote. Government, probably by design, usually requires some sort of consensus to function properly, and the American people--for the most part--have already reached the conclusion that not only do LGBT people exist (Egad!!!), they make families, too...and those families are as valid as any and all others (Egad yet again!)
Despite remnants of the American populace who will probably always wish we'd all just shuffle back into the closet, society in general knows "we're here, we're queer", and you know what? Most of society is not only "used to it", they're OK with it!
The times, they really are a-changin'.
Thank goodness.
Link to MSNBC article = www.msnbc.com/msnbc/census-gay-couples-count-families
My take...
"I think the American public already thinks same-sex married couples are families, and the Census Bureau is just catching up with public opinion..."
As usual, government follows on this issue instead of leading. I guess it's just the nature of an institution that owes its existence to popular vote. Government, probably by design, usually requires some sort of consensus to function properly, and the American people--for the most part--have already reached the conclusion that not only do LGBT people exist (Egad!!!), they make families, too...and those families are as valid as any and all others (Egad yet again!)
Despite remnants of the American populace who will probably always wish we'd all just shuffle back into the closet, society in general knows "we're here, we're queer", and you know what? Most of society is not only "used to it", they're OK with it!
The times, they really are a-changin'.
Thank goodness.
