Census won't count married gays Windy City Times -NATIONAL NEWS
by Rex Wockner
July 23, 2008
The U.S. government will not count married gay couples in the 2010 census,
the San Jose Mercury News reported July 12.
Instead, same-sex couples who accurately report that they are married will
have their response tabulated by the Census Bureau as if they had checked
“unmarried partners.”
Same-sex marriage is legal in California and Massachusetts. In addition, New
Yorkers who marry in those states or abroad are recognized as married in New
York state.
The Mercury News said the Census Bureau's decision was based on the federal
Defense of Marriage Act ( DOMA ) “and other mandates.”
Read more story below.... DOMA, signed into law by President Bill Clinton in
1996, states, in part: “In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, or of
any ruling, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus
and agencies of the United States, the word ‘marriage' means only a legal union
between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word ‘spouse' refers
only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.”
Gary Gates of the Williams Institute, a think tank at the University of
California Los Angeles law school, told the newspaper that the bureau's decision
“goes against everything the census stands for.”
“It's a systematic hiding not only of married gay couples, but gay couples as
families, which I would argue is a fundamentally political decision,” Gates
said.
Attempt to block Calif.
vote on marriage fails
The California Supreme Court denied a petition July 16 to remove from the
November ballot the voter initiative to amend the state constitution to re-ban
same-sex marriage.
Lawyers for Equality California, the National Center for Lesbian Rights,
Lambda Legal, and the American Civil Liberties Union had argued that the
proposed amendment, if passed, would actually amount to a “revision” of the
constitution.
While the California Constitution can be amended via a ballot initiative, it
cannot be “revised.” A revision of the document requires a proposal by the
Legislature or by a constitutional convention, followed by popular ratification.
The groups also argued that the initiative should be stricken from the ballot
because people who signed petitions to put it there were not given accurate
information on the proposed amendment's impact.
Those petitions claimed the amendment would not change California law on
marriage—which was true when the petitions were being circulated but is false
now that same-sex marriage is legal.
The petitions also claimed the amendment would have no fiscal impact, but it
will, because marrying gay couples from across the country brings money into
California—both for counties and for businesses that cater to visitors.
While the court rejected removing the initiative from the ballot, it is
possible the court would give renewed consideration to the groups' arguments
should voters actually approve the amendment.
Polling suggests Californians do not support writing marriage discrimination
into the state constitution, though that's no guarantee they won't do so in the
privacy of the voting booth.
