U.S. Census 2010 Opens Doors Wide for LGBT Participation
February 2, 2010 (Washington DC) – In March, American households everywhere will receive their 2010 Census forms in the mail: an important civic milestone that happens only once every ten years.
What makes this year’s Census even more historic is the unprecedented and welcoming outreach by U.S. Census leaders and managers to include the entire lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) and allied community in these efforts, as a way to achieve the nation’s most accurate count possible.
Dr. Robert Groves, Director of the U.S. Census Bureau, endorsed this initiative: “We are charged each ten years to provide Congress with a Census they trust to be accurate and complete. We are grateful to our LGBT community partners in helping us achieve this significant responsibility, and to help educate, motivate and inspire everyone to take part and above all, to be visible and counted.”
For this initiative, the U.S. Census recruited and deployed nearly two dozen Census Bureau Partnership Specialists across the country specifically to work with LGBT community groups and leaders. All of these specialists are working with Che Ruddell-Tabisola who was tapped by the U.S. Census to serve as national LGBT partnership leader and as the primary bridge between the LGBT-inspired community campaign called Our Families Count (www.ourfamiliescount.org).
Many of these U.S. Census Partnership Specialists will join Rudell-Tabisola by attending this year’s Creating Change conference in Dallas, Texas, starting on Wednesday, February 3, 2010. Census Bureau representatives will be staffing a welcoming table in the exhibit hall to display new LGBT outreach and education materials.
In addition, a special Workshop entitled, “Want to Add a Question to the Census?” Learn how at Numbers Matter: The Importance of the Census for LGBT Americans in 2010 and Beyond will be held at the conference in Dallas on Friday, February 5 beginning at 10:45 AM (CT).
The panel will include partners of the Our Families Count Collaborative:
- Dr. Gary Gates, The Williams Distinguished Scholar, The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, Los Angeles, CA
- Glenn D. Magpantay, Democracy Program Director, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund and Co-Director of the National Queer Asian and Pacific Islander Alliance
- Jaime M. Grant, Director of the Policy Institute, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Washington, DC
And featuring from the U.S. Census Bureau:
- Tim Olson, Assistant Division Chief, Field Division
- Ed SanFilippo, Partnership Specialist
For more background generally on the 2010 Census, please visit www.2010census.gov
Please also feel free to visit www.ourfamiliescount.org for details specifically for LGBT households – with questions and answers found there in both English and Spanish.
To stay connected on popular social networks, you may also find Our Families Count on Facebook, and feel free to follow on Twitter (twitter.com/rfamiliescount), or check out MySpace (myspace.com/ourfamiliescount).
LGBT COMMUNITY LEADERS UNITE TO ENDORSE THE 2010 CENSUS
(Organizations are listed here in alphabetical order; and for a complete list of LGBT community endorsements, please visitOurFamiliesCount.org too)
BINET
Faith Cheltenham, Vice President of BiNet USA said, “Too often bisexual, fluid, pansexual and queer-identified people are uncounted and overlooked. While the US Census does not currently ask about orientations, BiNet USA believes that all our families should take part in hopes of providing a more realistic representation of America’s diversity."
HONOR PAC
"Latinos understand that full representation of our community in the Census is critical in building social and political power. This year, Latino LGBT groups are working together with Latino civil rights organizations, like MALDEF and NALEO, to assure the LGBT community is represented in the Census too," said Ari Gutiérrez, VP of HONOR PAC and Co-Chair of the Latino Equality Alliance.
"Los latinos entienden que representación completa de nuestra comunidad en el Censo es fundamental en la construcción social y poder político. Este año, grupos LGBT latinos están trabajando junto con las organizaciones de derechos civiles de los latinos, como MALDEF y NALEO, para asegurar que la comunidad LGBT está representada en el Censo también ", dijo Ari Gutiérrez, vicepresidenta de HONOR PAC y Co-Presidenta de la Alianza para la Igualdad de latinos.
Human Rights Campaign
"The Human Rights Campaign is proud to be working with the U.S. Census Bureau and the coalition of groups to make sure that every LGBT person participates in the Census,” said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. “In this unprecedented push, LGBT families have the opportunity to be visible and included in this important measure that will help shape public policy.”
International Federation of Black Pride, Inc.
“The 2010 Census is the greatest opportunity the LGBT will have community has to impact the distribution of resources over the next ten years in the United States. The 2010 Census will have an even greater impact on LGBT Communities of Color. This is our time to be counted,” said Earl Fowlkes, President/CEO International Federation of Black Pride, Inc.
National Center for Transgender Equality
Mara Keisling, Executive Director for the National Center for Transgender Equality said, “The Census is an important part of American civic life because it determines how many resources are distributed to our neighborhoods, as well as around the country. Transgender people should feel safe to take part and know that you can respond using the gender with which you identify. The Census wants to know where Americans live and what the needs of your community are and you can be yourself while giving that information. NCTE is glad to help spread the word.”
National Gay & Lesbian Task Force
“The census is an incredible opportunity for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community to tell the truth about our lives. The fact is, we live in every county in the U.S., we come from every racial and ethnic background, and we are part and parcel of the fabric of American life. Sharing this truth is why it’s critical we fill out our forms,” says Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, which has also launched “Queer the Census,” an LGBT write-in campaign for the 2010 census. “Let the government know: We need sexual orientation and gender identity boxes to check off in future surveys. We should all be counted.”
National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA)
"The National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA) has been emphasizing the importance of the Census for Asian American, South Asian, Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander queer communities,” said Ben de Guzman, NQAPIA Co-Director for Programs. “We are working with the Census Bureau and local queer Asian groups across the country to provide LGBT specific information and multilingual resources in Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Hindi, and others."
Services and Advocacy for LGBT Elders (SAGE)
“SAGE will put it full weight behind the efforts related to counting LGBT older people as part of the census and will work with our partners, affiliates and colleagues in aging services to ensure older adults participate," said Michael Adams, Executive Director of Services and Advocacy for LGBT Elders, the nation's oldest and largest organization serving LGBT older adults. "With this crucial data, we will be better able to advocate for this diverse and growing community, one that is currently grossly underserved and underrepresented in services and fair policies," concluded Adams.
WILLIAMS INSTITUTE, University of California School of Law
"Census data play a vital role in all policy research and they have been invaluable in informing virtually every public policy dialogue about LGBT people. They allow us to us to better understand the diversity and complexity of the LGBT community," said Dr. Gary Gates, demographer and Williams Institute Distinguished Scholar at UCLA School of Law.
U.S. Census Media Contact: Our Families Count Media Contact:
timothy.p.olson@census.gov media@ourfamiliescount.org
Tim Olson Bob Witeck
301-763-7879 202-887-0500 ext. 19
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