Why Can’t the Census Count Gay Couples Accurately?

[theHandpuppet]

http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2014/09/22/the_census_cannot_count_gay_married_couples_in_america.html
Slate
Why Can’t the Census Count Gay Couples Accurately?
By Mark Joseph Stern

Last week, the Census Bureau announced that about 252,000 gay married couples live in the United States as of 2013, following its first ever attempt to gather data on gay spouses, part of the annual American Community Survey. This figure, however, came coupled with the caveat that it was almost certainly incorrect—because, the bureau explained, counting gay couples is really, really hard.

Why is collecting data on same-sex spouses so difficult? Much of the blame falls on the bureau itself. Rather than simply ask each respondent the obvious question—“Are you married to a person of the same sex?”—the bureau decided to play coy, posing a series of somewhat enigmatic inquiries, all designed to reveal a respondent’s homosexuality without forcing him to state it directly.

In theory, this obliquity is clever: The bureau is concerned that many gay couples, still familiar with the trauma of government-sponsored discrimination, will refuse to squarely disclose their relationship on the census. In practice, though, it’s a disaster. Apparently, some straight, married census-takers—perhaps bewildered by the labyrinth before them and eager to get it over with—accidentally mark the wrong gender on the form, unintentionally declaring themselves to be in a gay marriage.

The bureau ran into this exact same problem when it first started counting same-sex couples in 1990. (Back then, the bureau didn’t bother counting gay married couples, since they didn’t exist.) But while census-takers takers recognized and decried the problem after the 2000 census, they have done nothing to fix it in the interim. As a result, the figure released last week—and all data on gay relationships ever released by the Census Bureau—is likely inflated.... MORE at link provided above.

[TreasonousBastard]

1. I work with the Census Bureau...

I don't know what they're doing down in Washington but from my perspective gay couples are only recently talking about it. In the past, a field rep might interview a household and it might be clear that it's a gay couple, but there is no specific sexual preference question-- just the indirect way. There is a question about whether or not individuals are married and while it's not "is this a gay marriage" it's pretty obvious when two men or two women say they are married. Along with the marriage question, there is a category for "unmarried partner", so everything should be clear and accurate.

"Should be."

There are all sorts of complications, ranging from privacy concerns to gay marriage not being recognized in every state yet that make the numbers a little shaky. But, possibly the biggest problem is in the responses to the questions.

In the written survey form that the subject mails back, the questions may be misunderstood or ignored, or even deliberately lied about for some reason. In the personal interviews, it is often difficult for the interviewer to broach the subject.

"So, Joe, the other person living here is Jim. Are you roommates or partners."

A simple question it seems, but you're not sitting in Joe's living room asking it.

[SheilaT]

2. Thanks for that clarification.

In the more distant past, "normal" heterosexual couples living together might claim to be married because living together "in sin" was supposedly not done. Or they'd manage to keep at least one family from knowing they were actually living together.

[Joe Magarac]

3. Why should the census count gay couples at all?

Being out and proud is one thing, but do you really want the government to have the easy capability of making a round up list?

[Behind the Aegis]

4. Because we count!

As for round up lists, trust me, if they want a list, chances are they could get it easily without a census. Counting us is no different than counting Muslims, Jews, atheists, or any other undesirable group du jour.

[Joe Magarac]

5. Precisely why they should stop counting the others, not count us.

There's nothing in what the constitution says about the census about ethnic statics.

The Japanese Americans interned in WWII were rounded up using census data.

Think gay people are immune to any possible future government doing that?

[Behind the Aegis]

8. There are various reasons we are counted.

Because the census will occur, yes, we should be counted. We matter.

[RKP5637]

6. Yep! In my work career I would have been probably fired on the spot. Going through the years

I did, one becomes paranoid and with good reason. Maybe it's more open now, but one can still be fired simply for being gay, there are little protections.

[Fearless]

7. As evidence that we are a valid community in the nation

That in the courts, when they decide if marriage equality should stand, have evidence that a large population of people will benefit from it.

[Amimnoch]

9. Historically our greatest strength.. and weakness is our ability to choose to be counted.

I would not want to be the person whose job is to decide the method of counting us for census purposes.

I also don't think any number produced could ever be very accurate.

Let's be real, only a year and change ago did we gain the right to even call ourselves married on a federal level. Currently the majority of the states still refuse to recognize us, and many of those same states give businesses carte blanche to dispose of us, and our jobs as much as they'd like. Even in states, and regions where it is legal on the local/state/ and federal levels, and is generally tolerated there is still a lot of the older generation who will never openly admit to their relationships (I personally know 2x couples who fit this exact bill). Heck, to be honest, more has happened for our rights in the last 6 years than I'd expected to see happen in my lifetime, but we do have a long way to go before these polls and questions will start getting accurate responses that can really be counted.

As I put in my title, I've always thought our greatest strength, and our greatest weakness is our ability to completely blend in. Our ability to "butch, or Fem it up".. basically our ability for our sexuality to be completely invisible to any but those who we choose to let know. Our strength because it can save our lives (and has in the past), but also our weakness because when we choose to remain invisible, our progress fails to move forward.