The U.S. Census Bureau recently announced that same-sex married couples will again be counted as "unmarried partners," just like they were in the 2000 census. This is a major setback not only to our struggle for civil rights, but to all those who will now be at a disadvantage– from politicians to marketers– as a result of our continued institutional invisibility. The reasoning for this? The Census says a "wildly inflated" number of same-sex married couples could be produced, since same-sex married couples in civil unions or domestic partnerships tend to identify themselves as husbands or wives anyway. Well here's a wild idea: Why not just create more categories to code people as they actually are? How hard would it be just to create some more boxes that would just capture reality? And with society's retreat from marriage in general, why is marriage still the major deciding factor in everything they're trying to capture? Could it be because this is still cultural code for what constitutes a legitimate relationship? Something the other side can hang onto to drive a wedge between their vision of a real family vs. "other"? Just some food for thought. But by no means do I believe we should protest the Census. We need to stand up and be counted as something. Even if it isn't totally accurate, it's better than not being counted at all.
Read more in this AP article
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