Posted on 04/07/2010 12:06:07 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The U.S. Census Bureau has boosted its efforts of reaching out to the LGBT community, assuring gays and transgender people that they can be "true" to who they are when filling out census forms.
Same-sex couples will, for the first time, be counted as married even if their relationships are not recognized in their state.
Moreover, transgender people have been encouraged to complete the forms according to their "true gender," as Mara Keisling of the Center for Transgender Equality stated. They, however, will not directly be counted as transgender.
"Be yourself and be counted," Keisling, a transgender-identified woman, said in a promotional video.
On Monday, the Census Bureau released new videos encouraging same-sex couples and transgender people to participate in the 2010 census.
Gay rights groups have hailed the bureau's move as historic, as it signals recognition of gay and lesbian marriages.
"We pushed hard to make it possible for married same-sex couples to be counted in the 2010 census," reads a statement by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
The organization launched a "Queer the Census" campaign demanding even more recognition in the next U.S. census, complete with a question that asks if one is lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.
Conservative groups, meanwhile, say the bureau is ignoring federal and state laws by allowing same-sex couples to list themselves as married regardless of whether their relationships are legal.
"The law should count for something when the Census Bureau counts America's population, but apparently it doesn't on President Obama's watch," said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins. "The President's Commerce Department is actively encouraging people to ignore U.S. marriage law and invent new definitions for their relationships."
Perkins noted that the federal Defense of Marriage Act forbids the government from recognizing same-sex marriages.
"When it comes to advancing the extreme homosexual agenda, this White House has no limits, not even the facts," he lamented.
Gary Randall, president of Faith and Freedom Network, believes homosexual numbers will be inflated by the "you decide what you are" policy.
"This policy shift is another attempt to confuse the discussion about marriage by creating a problem of sorts, then providing a solution that advances the homosexual agenda of redefining marriage," he stated.
The Census Bureau has begun mailing second forms to approximately 40 million housing units to increase America's participation. Households have until mid-April to mail back their forms. Census data are used to apportion congressional seats to states, to distribute more than $400 billion in federal funds to tribal, state and local governments each year and to make decisions about what community services to provide.
I feel like I’m 20 people. Who is the census to tell me I’m wrong. In fact, my split personalities tell me I’m a million people and so we deserve our own Congressman.
The obvious choice for that would be my personality called Sleazy, the embezzling lawyer.
But it’s not a slam dunk, one of my other personalities is challenging Sleazy in the primary, the reverend Jesse Moneybags. I think he’s going to inject race into the election.
It should be a spirited race, I’ll let you know how it turns out.
I’d like to see the government just get out of the business of defining marriage all together. The entire concept of “civil marriage” is itself an abomination to God if you want to look at it from a religious perspective. Why does the government have to recognize marriage? It didn’t use to. It shouldn’t once again.
The census should concern itself with a headcount and that’s it anyway.
This is no oversight, imho.
The ONLY reason it would not matter whether or not the respondents are citizens would be the administration's intent to proclaim amnesty and 'shake-and-bake' the illegals into citizenship status.
The whole raceapalooza (a possible 20 responses on the form for race or variety of hispanicity) will probably help gerrymander districts as well.
A. B. and D.
Libertarians who conflict with social conservatives are a real uncomfortable fit here.
“I believe in small, limited government and people can do what they will so long as it doesn’t infringe on my freedom to do the same.”
But it does...and will do so more...military effectiveness, for one...tax skewed for another...not to mention the damage in the society to the kids we will start to see emerging...it is a FACT and can be easily researched, that kids in a married, two parent male-female headed household do much better. It isn’t an opinion. It is a fact. Since you live here, your life is...and will be more and more so...affected. I understand your points and on the surface they are kind and generous...but reality will be something quite different for us all in the future.
Well I have read only a bit on the Kinsey study-—didn’t know that their study group were prisoners.
Why not also encourage heterosexual couples who shack up together more than 6 months to also box in “married”?
The goal is to count them now and give them citizenship long before 2010.
The goal is to count them now and give them citizenship long before 2020.
The future is so confusing.
“I’d like to see the government just get out of the business of defining marriage all together.”
I’ve expressed this view on FR before, as well. Prepare to get flamed by people who don’t understand that the inevitable result of government intrusion in this essentially religious area is a definition of (civil)marriage that most social and religious conservatives will find abhorrent.
I don’t even really think it’s a “libertarian” idea. It’s old-conservatism in the mold of Barry Goldwater. If we, as a movement, pick and choose when government intervention is okay then we’ve given up on the moral argument of freedom. If we argue that the “effect on society” is justification enough for government to decide what is and what is not okay to do, then we will one day have our rights infringed on on the same basis. Indeed, liberals today are arguing the same thing when it comes to health care. They can limit our freedoms because the overall effect on society will be a good one.
What is a “transgender-identified woman”? A man who thinks she’s a woman, or a woman who thinks he’s a man?
A man who thinks of himself/herself as a woman.
I work at the census bureau in a local census office (as a clerk), and I am friends with one of the bosses of the office, well he got a “memo” which would confirm this as true! Isn’t the Obama adminstration sick: ESPECIALLY BECAUSE THIS VIOLATES FEDERAL LAW (Doma)!! Sickening..
This is just more perverted homosexual bs. I am watching a program right now on Islam. It is a program where the religion of peace is ranting why they do not like any political cartoons saying bad things about the religion of peace. Pretty much the same thing with perverted homosexuals. Both of these groups want any speech speaking out against them stopped. So they have to backdoor it with crap like this. Count us perverted homosexuals as married even if we are not.
Not only states' laws, but federal law as well. There has never been an administration which showed so much contempt for the rule of law, flouting not only established legal foundations, but societal values as well. Evil has no more accurate than Øbama and the modern Democrats.
In many cases, "freedom" is a zero sum game - this point has been strenuously contended by both those on the right AND left. Christians, minding their own business, have been dragged into perverts' lust to be recognized, and in many cases, have lost in court.
I don't know if you have been on this site very long, but if you have missed the implications of even tacit approval of, or even indifference to, homosexuality in any degree, you are either willfully blind or a covert activist yourself.
If you have the stomach for it, I invite you to visit MassResistance's site for a view into the hell of homosexual proliferation in a society.
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