White House Looks to Include Same Sex Unions in
Census Count
Wall Street Journal
By Dave Eberhart
June 19, 2009
The Census Bureau was all set to
categorized spouses in same-sex marriages as
unmarried partners in the 2010 census, but President
Barack Obama is now directing that agency to
accurately reflect couples involved in same-sex
marriages, unions and partnerships in the upcoming
big count.
According to a report in the Wall Street Journal,
the White House has issued a memo to the Census
Bureau to work up whatever new forms or new software
it takes to collect the same-sex marriage data and
then release it early in 2011.
The precedent-setting memo to the Census Burea
was but one initiative of the Obama administration
this week to start leveling the playing field for
homosexual couples.
According to White House releases, President
Obama has requested the Secretary of State and the
director of the Office of Personnel Management to
extend the benefits they have identified to the
same-sex partners of Federal employees where doing
so can be achieved consistent with Federal law.
Obama also requested the heads of all other
executive departments and agencies to conduct a
review of the benefits they administer to determine
which may legally be extended to same-sex partners.
The President referred to these moves spelled out
in a Presidential Memorandum as just a start on the
road to reform.
“Unfortunately, my Administration is not
authorized by existing Federal law to provide
same-sex couples with the full range of benefits
enjoyed by heterosexual married couples,” he said.
“That’s why I stand by my long-standing commitment
to work with Congress to repeal the so-called
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). It’s discriminatory,
it interferes with States’ rights, and it’s time we
overturned it.”
The President also announced his support for the
Domestic Partners Benefits and Obligations Act of
2009. This legislation would extend to the same-sex
partners of Federal employees the same benefits
already enjoyed by the opposite-sex spouses of
Federal employees.
Gary Gates, an expert in gay and lesbian affairs
at the University of California at Los Angeles told
the WSJ that the administration’s initiatives over
the week represented “a very positive step.”
Gays strongly supported Obama during the campaign
but reportedly have been disappointed in the pace of
executive action on the issue of discrimination.
There was some sentiment that Obama should have
unilaterally lifted the “Don’t Ask; Don’t Tell”
regulation that allows gays in the military only if
they are not open about their sexual orientation.
Instead, the White House announced that it would let
Congress take the lead in phasing out “Don’t Ask;
Don’t Tell.”
The Obama administration has also been under the
gun to abridge the Census policy as to accounting
for gay partnerships, according to the WSJ. For the
1990 count, the bureau simply altered the gender
designation of one partner so as not to be
inconsistent with the forms and software.
Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., sent a letter this
week to Obama, urging him to order the bureau to
release same-sex marriage data as part of the 2010
Census report.
Last month, some 50-plus Congressmen sent a
letter to White House Budget Director Peter Orszag,
asking him to work with the Commerce Department to
refurbish the policy.
In the past, the Census Bureau has collected data
on same-sex marriages, but because of an
interpretation of DOMA, such data was not released.
According to the WSJ, the Obama administration no
longer interprets the act in the same manner.
Congress passed DOMA in 1996. It prohibits
federal recognition of same-sex marriages and also
allows a state to ignore gay marriages performed
outside its borders.
