The 2010 Census is upon us! According to the U.S. 2010 Census Bureau:
“Census information affects the numbers of seats your state occupies in the U.S. House of Representatives….the information the census collects helps to determine how more than $400 billion dollars of federal funding each year is spent on infrastructure and services like Hospitals, Job training centers, Schools, Senior centers, Bridges, tunnels and other-public works projects, and Emergency services.”
For the first time in history, the Census will count both unmarried same-sex partners and legally married same sex spouses. But, it will not count unmarried, non-partnered LGBT individuals. Which means that when it comes to decisions on federal spending for the next ten years, the needs of many members of the LGBT community will once again not be counted.
Brenda Jin is organizing a group of students for the Queer the Census campaign, organized by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. The Task Force is distributing stickers that allow people to check off “Lesbian,” “Gay,” “Bisexual,” “Transgender,” or “A Straight Ally” and can be checked off and used to seal envelopes before being mailed back to the Census Bureau. She has ordered 5,000 stickers to be distributed to the undergraduate community and will be delivering them to individual dormitories along with a personal letter signed by the students involved that explains the campaign and the importance of getting counted in the Census. The students who are helping out are not affiliated with any group or official organization on campus…they’re just a group of concerned students who are raising awareness and visibility for LGBT issues to the broader campus community.
Please contact Brenda (brendaj@princeton.edu) if you’re interested in helping out with drafting or signing the letter, stuffing envelopes, getting funding, or otherwise helping out!
