LGBTQ folks: how to fill out your census form accurately

Our Families Count � About the Form

Questions include:

• What gender do I check if I'm transgender?
• What do I check off if I'm in a same-gender relationship?
• Should I identify as head of household if I'm a person of color and my partner is white?
• Is the government going to us this against me?

From the article:

The Census form asks you to list the person who owns or rents the house as “Person 1” and then indicate how everyone in the household is related to “Person 1”. In order to be counted as a same-sex couple, one of the partners must be listed as “Person 1”. Same-sex couples who have been legally married or consider themselves to be spouses should identify the other person as a “husband or wife”. Those terms fit some – but certainly not all – LGBT households.

Other same-sex couples may be more comfortable using the term “unmarried partner”. In general, this term is designed to capture couples who are in a “close personal relationship” and are not legally married or do not think of themselves as spouses. Census forms do not provide an option yet to explicitly designate a couple as united by civil union or a public domestic partner registry.

...Census reports some statistics based on the race/ethnicity of the “household”. In these cases, they categorize households by the race/ethnicity of Person 1 (head of household). Given that people of color are often under counted, LGBT people of color in bi-racial relationships should consider identifying as the head of household.

Read the article...