Same Sex Couples To Be Tracked In 2020 United States Census
As of 2020, same sex couples will be officially tracked by the United States Census. For the record, same-sex marriage is legal in 19 states and in the District of Columbia. North Dakota has banned it. According to a Pew Research Report, this is the first time the United States Census Bureau will ask specifically for same-sex couples to identify themselves. Other questions on the form include age, sex, Hispanic origin, race, relationship status, homeownership status, and citizenship.
Rather than the usual under-representation faced by the LGBTQ+ community, same sex couples have apparently been over-counted by the Census Bureau. In past counts, the Bureau established the number of same sex couples by combining answers from the question regarding the respondent’s sex, and the question as to whether they had a husband, wife, unmarried partner, or no partner. The Census Bureau then combined those answers and determined whether a couple was considered same-sex or not. However, research into the 2010 census showed that the majority of same sex couples in the 2010 census were recorded as opposite sex couples in Social Security files. Additionally, 2020 will avoid a miscount by … Read More... “Same Sex Couples Count for the 2020 Census”