‘Queering the census’ movement aims to get single gays counted as such on U.S. Census (original) (raw)
Jaime Grant was elated when she discovered that the 2010 Census is reporting the number of the country’s gay couples – for the first time in history.
Grant, director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s Policy Institute, soon realized, however, that there was a big problem: Couples were counted as gays, but single gays were not counted as being homosexual.
“I thought, this is going to ring so hollow to our community,” she said. “Many of us are not married. Many of us are not partnered.”
Grant tried to think of a way to protest that wasn’t a boycott. Suddenly, the idea hit – a bright pink sticker for people to stick on their census envelope and check either “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or straight ally.”
Her group calls it “queering the census” and it’s gone viral, with a Facebook group where people post pictures of themselves and their bestickered forms before dropping them in the mail.
“We want all these stickers to just be a resounding push. We’re out here; we expect you to take on this responsibility,” Grant said. “We’ve had a huge response. It’s been totally thrilling.”
The group has sent more than 10,000 stickers to New York City organizations, and people ordering their own or printing them out from the group’s Web site – www.queerthecensus.org.
Yana Walton, 28, a publicist from Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, stuck one on her form and passed them out to friends.
“I’m totally not counted,” Walton said. “Single gay people are basically invisible in a survey that’s supposed to represent who lives in America.”
Transgender people, who are urged to check the gender box they most identify with, also wanted to be counted as such.
“It starts at collecting information, because it’s for our own community too, to know how many of us are out there,” said Kit Yan, 25, a transgender artist from Prospect Heights.
The Census Bureau won’t tally results from the stickers, obviously, but Grant hopes things will change when the 2020 census rolls around.
It isn’t just about self expression, she added – statistics have been valuable to her group to disprove stereotypes about where and how gay people live.
She said officials have told her they are taking note of the campaign.
“Whatever you want to do, still fill out that form,” said Yolanda Finley, a spokeswoman from the New York Regional Census Center. “That’s the bottom line.”
Originally Published: March 31, 2010 at 2:34 PM EST