Same-sex married couples will, for the first time, be counted accurately in the decennial U. S. Census next year, and the Census Bureau is reaching out to LGBT organizations in the region to ensure the entire community is adequately represented.
The Bureau announced last month that it would reverse the policy that the Bush administration employed in the 2000 Census — in which same-sex couples who reported themselves as married were changed by data analysts to “unmarried partners.”
“In the past, the gay and lesbian community has had concerns about how they will be represented in the Census because they felt that the Census form didn’t provide the right options or choices for them to be included,” said Fernando Armstrong, director of the Philadelphia Regional Census Office. “But the present administration has made a commitment to making sure that all of the population is counted. There’s a change in the direction that this administration is following, and there is a definite interest in being very, very inclusive.”
This year’s Census questionnaire also differs in length from previous forms. The survey contains 10 questions and asks for information about age, sex, race, relationships and housing status. Previously, one in six households also received a longer form that asked more detailed questions, but that information is now being gathered through the American Community Survey, an annual questionnaire sent to a small percentage of households.
Armstrong recently met with leaders from numerous LGBT organizations to discuss the Census and provide materials about the process that they can pass along to their supporters.
Armstrong said he’s tried to stress that the Census form is completely confidential and that an accurate picture of the region is needed for successful legislative redistricting, as well as the fair allocation of funding to the state for community-based projects.
“We want to reach out to the community and make them aware of all of the benefits of the Census and the reasons why everyone should be a part of it,” Armstrong said.
In order to reach the widest audience, the Bureau has allocated funding for community-oriented projects that spread the message about the necessity of participating in the Census to some populations that are at risk of being underrepresented, such as the LGBT community, Latinos, African Americans, the elderly and college students.
The Bureau’s Partnership Support Program will provide $670,000 to organizations within the Philadelphia Region — which also comprises the rest of the state, southern New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Washington, D.C. — that create a public message to promote the Census.
Some of the proposed projects include T-shirts, posters, fliers included in church bulletins and water bottles distributed at community festivals, Armstrong said.
Each organization will be allocated up to $3,000 to complete the project, but Armstrong said the agency has received so many proposals that it might not be able to approve each one.
He anticipated, however, that more funding could be released for the project in October.
Perry Monastero, executive director of LGBT grantmaking organization Delaware Valley Legacy Fund, said the Census Bureau has approved his agency’s proposal, which will entail a message about the Census being included in the program book for the group’s upcoming Heroes event and in a new DVLF brochure. DVLF will also reach out to about 1,100 LGBT leaders through a letter that draws their attention to the Census.
DVLF issued a request for proposals to local LGBT printing companies and selected MediaCopy to conduct the projects, which will receive the funding directly from the Bureau.
While Monastero said the Census funding does not completely cover the printing costs of the brochures or the program books, it is “very welcome support” that will allow the organization to spread the message that “everyone in the LGBT community, whether single or in relationships, needs to be counted.”
Tiffany Thompson, interim executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Latino AIDS Education Initiative, said her agency also plans to implement a Partnership Support Program project to raise awareness about the Census among LGBT and Latino residents. Thompson said she is in the process of learning the details of the initiative, as former executive director Louis Bonilla, who stepped down earlier this summer, spearheaded its creation.
’Dolph Ward Goldenburg, executive director of the William Way LGBT Community Center, said the center is considering hosting an event in the spring during which community members can complete and return their Census forms and, if the organization goes ahead with that plan, it may submit a proposal to the Partnership Support Program to seek funding.
The Bureau employed a similar program to reach minority communities prior to the 2000 Census, but Armstrong noted that funding was granted too late in the process, hindering its success.
“The program was very, very rushed and we most likely didn’t do the best we could in helping the organizations,” Armstrong said. “This time around, we’re learning from those mistakes and the challenges that we had in 2000, and I think we’ve done a much better job from the very beginning. The money was available earlier and we have a process in place to help the partner organizations and the vendors without too much bureaucracy and red tape. I feel a lot more comfortable this time around that the organizations that are deserving and needing, and can do a good job for us and with us, are the ones benefiting from having this available.”
In addition to enlisting partner organizations, the Philadelphia Regional Office has, for the first time, recruited employees to conduct outreach to the LGBT community. Three partner specialists — headquartered in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. — will utilize their own experiences working with the LGBT community to educate and inform LGBT individuals about the changes made to the Census and the need for their participation.
Lanette Swopes, a partner specialist for 10 years, will head the local LGBT efforts.
Swopes, who is heterosexual, said she has several friends who are active in the LGBT community, and that she’s eager to network with area organizations to ensure a strong LGBT representation in the Census.
“This is traditionally a population that hasn’t been outreached to, and we want to count everyone,” Swopes said. “That’s the primary focus of the Census. We want to be inclusive of everyone.”
Monastero has met with both Armstrong and Swopes and has facilitated further meetings between Swopes and leaders of other LGBT organizations, in particular those that represent people of color and faith communities.
“Fernando brought us to the table and wanted us to help them put the word out because of our organization’s role as a funder and a convener of funding,” Monastero said. “So right now we’re trying to reach out to groups in the community and get them interested in and excited about the Census so further down the line we can push for more money for the community.”
Monastero noted that the Bureau’s recent LGBT outreach is a step in the right direction toward having elements such as sexual orientation and gender identity also counted in the 2020 Census.
“Behind the scenes, a lot of community leaders have been talking about how, further down the road, we can work to have our trans brothers and sisters and individual gay people who aren’t in relationships counted,” he said. “It’s 2009 right now and the Bureau is directly reaching out to members of the LGBT community; they want us involved. So now we have to work with them and with each other to see what we can continue to do to be fully counted in upcoming censuses.”
Census forms will be mailed out in March.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].