Current Projects: Census
Our Familes Count: The Census and LGBTQ Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
Census in Language: Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Vietnamese
Our Families Count: The Census and LGBTQ Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
The Census
Every ten years, the U.S. Census Bureau takes a count – a census – of the entire population of the United States. Every year, the Bureau also conducts the American Community Survey (ACS), a study of a random sample of the population. Data from the decennial Census and ACS is used to: • study the demographics of the nation as a whole, including the LGBT community; • allocate federal and state funding for health care, affordable housing, English as a Second Language classes, job training, and interpreter services; • enforce civil rights laws in employment, housing, voting, lending, and education; • determine the availability of bilingual ballots on Election Day; • distribute the 435 congressional seats among the states; and • redraw congressional, state, and local legislative district lines.Counting Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, South Asians, and Southeast Asians
The Census asks individuals to identity their racial and ethnic background. Through the census we have learned that Asian Americans are the fastest growing minority group in the nation, estimated to number 15 million. The Census makes a distinction between Pacific Islanders (including groups such as Native Hawaiians, and Chamorros) and Asians (including South Asians and Southeast Asians).Counting Same-Sex Families
The Census does not ask sexual orientation. The Census does ask about relationships and through this question, the Census counts same-sex married spouses and same-sex unmarried partners. The Census found that there are 565,000 same-sex couples in the United States, including married couples and unmarried partners.Counting Biracial Same-Sex Couples
The census only counts mixed-race same-sex household if the person of color completes the form as Person #1. In an unfortunate and complicated quirk in data collection, for same-sex couples where one partner is white and the other partner is Asian the Asian American partner should complete the form.Counting Gender and Gender-Identity
The Census asks the sex of the respondent, but respondents may only check “male” or “female.” People of transgender experience may select their preferred gender identity between the two, albeit, binary choices. Advocates are lobbying to add a “transgender” box for future government surveys.Other Census Questions
In addition to these questions, the Census also asks for the respondents’ name, age, children, number of people in the household, and whether they rent or own their home. Other census surveys like the yearly ACS ask about US citizenship, English proficiency, country of birth, ancestry, employment, income, etc. The census does not ask about immigration status.An Inclusive Census
Advocacy efforts are being led by organizations such as the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force and UCLA Williams Institute for inclusion of sexual orientation on the government sponsored surveys like the Census and the ACS. Queer demographers are also studying the best way to ask gender-identity for eventual inclusion on governmental surveys.The Census is Confidential and Required by Law
Under federal law, personal information given to the Census is private and may not be shared with any other federal agency, the immigration service, IRS, or law enforcement. Strict penalties apply for those who violate the confidentiality protections. Federal law also requires all households who receive census forms to completely and truthfully answer all questions.To Get Counted and Language Assistance
In March 2010, every household will receive a decennial census form. The ACS is a much longer questionnaire that is distributed monthly to a random sampling of households. If completed forms are not mailed back, a census-taker will visit the homes to take the information through an interview. All information given to Census employees is confidential.Census questionnaire forms are available in English, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese, as well as in Spanish and Russian. Translated Census Questionnaire Assistance Guides are also available in over 20 other Asian American, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Islander languages and dialects to help respondents complete the English form.
With so much at stake, a complete count of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, Asian American, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Islander community is critical.
For more information contact:
NQAPIA
www.nqapia.org
nqapia@gmail.com
NQAPIA is a member of the Our Families Count Coalition (www.ourfamiliescount.org), which seeks to educate the LGBTQ community about the importance of the Census.
Census in Language
Chinese
Hindi
Korean
Vietnamese
