Why do we march?

Originally posted on DC Agenda. Photo from Image from Immigration Equality Blog.

During the past week, our collective attention has been on the health care reform bills. Leading into last weekend, most Americans wondered whether the House Democrats would have the 216 votes needed to pass the historic legislation. In the meantime, the forces gathering for the next big battle were mostly ignored.

Last Sunday, tens of thousands of demonstrators — including members of the LGBT community — congregated at the National Mall for the March for America, a rally demanding comprehensive immigration reform. Although not one LGBT organization or leader was included in the roster of speakers, we chose to join and support immigration reform, partly due to our stake in the Uniting American Families Act, which would allow American citizens to sponsor their foreign partner or spouse for legal permanent residency. This piece of legislation is one we would like to be included in any immigration reform effort. I also suspect, though, that many LGBT people who attended the rally realize the importance of minority groups sticking together and advocating for one another.

It was quite a sight to see a gigantic rainbow flag above the crowd and, nearby, a bright spot of red made by the large contingent of Immigration Equality supporters wearing red t-shirts. Close by were teams from Asian/Pacific Islander Queers United for Action, Equality Illinois, Full Equality NOW! DC, GetEqual.org, Human Rights Campaign, the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, Out4Immigration and others.

Although the crowd was energized, defiant and determined to see the change promised by President Obama, the experience reminded me of a similar gathering five months ago, when tens of thousands of LGBT people and allies demanded change at the National Equality March. This makes me ask whether these marches will take us anywhere?

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act is stalled in Congress while “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is undergoing an unnecessary, yearlong review. There’s no point in even dreaming yet of repealing the Defense of Marriage Act. The plain and simple fact is that legislators see the mid-term elections on the horizon and are keenly aware of the toll the healh care reform battle will take. They are not about to take up our cause anytime soon.

Even Iin the unlikely event that congressional Democrats decide to pursue immigration reform this year, I’m willing to bet that despite the assurances of Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) that bi-national same-sex couples will not be left out, they will be. The Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America’s Security & Prosperity Act introduced by Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) in December blatantly leaves out LGBT families. Although the Illinois congressman had been supportive of the LGBT community in the past, he has not committed to our inclusion in any immigration reform initiative. This is not altogether surprising, since he needs the support of social conservatives, especially the Catholic and Evangelical Latino churches.

So why do we march? We do so out of solidarity and a strong belief in democracy. Our voices are heard and our numbers seen even though change doesn’t come fast enough. But so long as we keep it up — whether by demonstrating, e-mailing or calling our elected officials, writing letters to the editor or blogging, supporting advocacy groups or proven pro-LGBT politicians, or even chaining ourselves to the White House fence — we will prevail. Until we all are truly equal, we keep on marching.

You can follow me on Twitter at @ErwindeLeon

Rewind: Wolves are stalking us

Also posted on DC Agenda. Image from the Washington Post.

As the community and its allies celebrate another hard-fought victory this week — same-sex marriage in D.C. — wolves circle nearby, waiting for a chance to pounce.

Tuesday was the first day lesbian and gay couples could pick up their marriage licenses and finally get married. Ceremonies were held all over the city, from the headquarters of Human Rights Campaign to churches, synagogues and judge’s chambers throughout Washington. On the same day, the city commission of conservative Kissimmee, Fla., afforded LGBT employees a measure of equality by approving domestic partnership benefits for these workers.

The U.S. Supreme Court also agreed to hear the case against the Westboro Church for picketing funerals of soldiers. The suit was filed by the family of U.S. Marine Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq four years ago. Snyder’s funeral service was interrupted by the church’s leader, Fred Phelps, and a handful of followers who brandished signs saying “America is doomed,” “Matt in hell” and “Semper Fi fags,” the very same treatment regularly heaped upon the LGBT community at Pride parades, demonstrations and other major events. The Snyder family is arguing that Phelps intruded on a private event and intentionally inflicted emotional distress, initially winning an award of $5 million. The award was overturned on appeal, where a court ruled that protestors were simply exercising their First Amendment right to free speech. The high court will resolve the matter.

But disputes need not reach the Supreme Court to make news in Washington.

Last week, the Washington Post featured a photograph of one of the first gay couples to get a marriage license. For the historic day, the editors deemed appropriate for the front page a picture of two men kissing. However, the paper’s ombudsman reported Wednesday that the paper received a number of angry, spiteful and bigoted complaints and that 27 subscribers canceled their subscriptions due to the photo. Nonetheless, the editors stand by their decision.

Over the weekend, a bloodthirsty member of Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell’s pack was exposed by his impatience to get at LGBTs. Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli sent a letter to Virginia’s public colleges and universities urging them to rescind policies that ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

And on Monday, a Roman Catholic school in Colorado kicked out one of its preschoolers because the child’s parents happen to be two women. The child has also been denied re-enrollment in kindergarten next year.

The reality is that as we continue our march to full equality, these wolves will stalk and hunt us. We must be constantly vigilant lest they detect an opening, disrupt our progress and set us back. Same-sex marriage in Washington, D.C., for instance can easily be overturned by a referendum or interfered with by members of Congress.

Moreover, some of these predators lurk among us. One of them is California State Sen. Roy Ashburn. Ashburn had been in the closet and is the attack dog of religious conservatives and other homophobes and bigots. He lobbied hard against his fellow gays, consistently voting against pro-LGBT measures. It took a DUI arrest last week and the revelation that he had just left a gay bar with another man before the hypocrite was ferreted out.

However, there are ways we can keep the wolves at bay. After outrage and protest over his lackey’s letter mandating LGBT discrimination, McDonnell issued a directive to all Virginia state employees Wednesday saying they should not discriminate for any reason, including on the basis of sexual orientation. However, the religious conservative who famously wrote in his manifesto for good governance that government policy should favor married heterosexual couples over “cohabitators, homosexuals or fornicators,” was silent on the matter of discrimination based on gender identity.

Then there are moments when even people we might not ordinarily consider friends come to our defense out of the sheer lunacy of actions taken by some people and organizations.

Conservative pundit Bill O’Reilly came to the defense of the Colorado family whose child was expelled. During his television show, O’Reilly opened a segment saying, “Authorities at the Sacred Heart of Jesus School expelled a preschool and kindergartner because their parents are lesbians. As a Roman Catholic myself, that seems to be a bit harsh, and I don’t know if Jesus would have made the same call. Kids have no power over who their parents are.”

Moments like that are encouraging. And it’s great to see celebrations continue in the District and all over the country as we win our rightful place in society one step at a time. However, we need to be on the lookout for the wolves that are stalking us.

You can follow me on Twitter at @ErwindeLeon

Rewind: love, marriage, hate and immigration

The legalization of same-sex marriage in the nation’s capital made front page news but the past week also saw a rift in the immigration reform and LGBT coalition, legislation for the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell introduced, and raw hatred challenged.

On Wednesday, the District joined Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Iowa in allowing lesbians and gays to wed. Over 150 couples applied for licenses less than a day after the U.S. Supreme Court denied a request from Maryland’s Bishop Harry Jackson that D.C.’s same-sex-marriage law be put on hold until he and his anti-equality posse are able to put our civil rights to a popular vote.

Across the Atlantic in the United Kingdom, the House of Lords overwhelmingly approved an amendment to the nation’s Equality Bill which lifts the ban on same-sex ceremonies in churches. It was introduced by openly gay Muslim peer Waheed Alli and supported by his fellow Lords, including a number of prominent Anglican bishops. Under current British law, religious venues are forbidden from holding gay nuptials. The amendment now goes to the House of Commons for passage.

Yesterday, a law permitting lesbian and gay couples to marry came into effect in Mexico City a day after Argentina had its second same-sex wedding. The piece of legislation, which gives gay people full marital rights and allows them to adopt, was passed by the local assembly in December. Mexico City has now become ground zero for the culture wars in Latin America.

Back in Washington, D.C., the Roman Catholic Archdiocese continued its losing battle against progress by choosing to deny benefits to all domestic partners of Catholic Charities employees. They would rather take away much needed health coverage from spouses of new employees or spouses of current employees who are not already enrolled in the plan than provide for lesbian and gay partners and spouses. Battling its own culture war, the Roman Catholic leadership does not want to be perceived as condoning “aberrant” and “sinful” behavior.

This visceral hate for our families was echoed over the weekend in California, when the University of California Davis campus became a target of homophobia and racism.

Graphic anti-gay words and phrases were found spray-painted on the campus’ LGBT Resource Center on Saturday morning, following the discovery by a Jewish student of a swastika carved into her dorm room door.

Thankfully, many Americans realize that history and right is on the side of LGBT civil rights. In Rhode Island, three major candidates running for governor – General Treasurer Frank Caprio, Attorney General Patrick Lynch, both Democrats, and former Sen. Lincoln Chafee, an independent – pledged to 200 people present at a rally that they would allow same-sex marriage if elected. Even moderate candidate Ken Block expressed his support for our right to marry.

Internationally, LGBT activists and allies continued to fight institutionalized homophobia. In Uganda, hundreds of campaigners led by Anglican priest Gideon Byamugisha urged lawmakers to reject the proposed “kill the gays” law. The campaigners presented the parliamentarians with an online petition signed by 450,000 people worldwide opposing the bill.

In other news, activist and blogger Prerna Lal reported on the apparent rift between the immigration reform movement and LGBT community which surfaced last weekend during a briefing for LGBT bloggers. It was revealed that Reform Immigration for America, a campaign which touts itself as “a united national effort that brings together individuals and grassroots organizations with the mission to build support for workable comprehensive immigration reform,” does not have a single LGBT organization in its management team so as to appease conservative religious groups. Moreover, a leader of the immigration reform movement pronounced that promoting the Uniting American Families Act, a bill which would allow gay American citizens to petition foreign partners and spouses for green cards, was not a winning strategy for the campaign to adopt even though, as Lal rebuts, the bill has more cosponsors than any other immigration-related initiative.

In spite of this blatant shunting of the LGBT community, the bloggers were still expected to advance immigration reform, angering some of those present. A gay activist who attended the gathering summed up how many felt: “It feels like you are telling us to give a big push to your bus while we have to run behind it trying to get on.”

Finally, on Wednesday, Sen. Joseph Lieberman introduced a bill to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. The Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2010 would repeal the 1993 law barring LGBT individuals from open service in the U.S. military and put a non-discrimination policy in its place. The senator did acknowledge that this legislation may not pass anytime soon and that Congress may have to settle with a moratorium this year as opposed to an outright repeal.

The week’s big news was love overcoming hate in Washington, D.C. after decades of hard work and incremental steps taken by the community, its leaders and allies. While the overwhelming joy and relief felt by many of us is priceless, the fact remains that a D.C. marriage license does not mean much in most of the country. Those of us who will wed are still denied the over 1,100 privileges and protections endowed to different-sex couples. Nonetheless, the nation is moving in the right direction at least when it comes to civil rights – after all, nearly half of Americans now live where there is some legal recognition of lesbian and gay couples.

You can follow me on Twitter at @ErwindeLeon. Also posted on DC Agenda.

Rewind: Week of Feb.6

Originally posted on DC Agenda

This week, members of New York’s LGBT community and its leaders lashed out at a pair of politicians for broken promises and perceived duplicity. Is this the next wave of LGBT activism? Are we finally getting angry enough not to take it anymore?

A political action committee, Fight Back New York, which was founded in response to the defeat of same-sex marriage in the state’s senate in December, launched its campaign against the 30 Republican and 8 Democratic senators who caused the loss. The group’s one and only aim is to defeat these politicians and to replace them with pro-equality legislators by November. It has identified its first target. As Bill Smith, an adviser to the committee, explained, “Politicians who deny gays and lesbians basic equality should be thrown out of office, starting with convicted criminal Hiram Monserrate.”

Monserrate was expelled by his colleagues earlier this month following his misdemeanor assault conviction. He had promised his support for the gay marriage bill, but voted against it while jockeying for power in Albany. He is currently running in a special election to regain his seat and the new political action committee is ready to spend generously and campaign tenaciously toward his defeat.

Meanwhile, in his quest to become the next junior U.S. senator from New York, Harold Ford Jr. was aggressively booed and heckled during his visit to the Stonewall Democratic Club on Wednesday. The community has been skeptical of the carpetbagger from Tennessee who had voted to ban gay marriage while serving as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Ford was interrupted by chants of “No more lies, no more lies” and “snake-oil Harry, go away.”

Although some may find Ford’s reception lacking in civility and Fight Back New York’s focus on defeating rather than supporting political candidates not the best use of resources, the anger and frustration many of us feel should come as no surprise. In spite of all the support and loyalty the community has given to Democrats who control the White House and both chambers of Congress, progress has been painfully slow and opportunities have been squandered.

Take the ongoing debate over “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” for instance. Why is there even a debate?

Poll after poll after poll has shown that a vast majority of Americans have no problem with gay troops serving openly. The rank and file are aware of brave lesbians, gays and bisexuals fighting by their side. Moreover, a comprehensive new study of militaries that allow openly gay service members concludes that a speedy implementation of a repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” will not be harmful.

Military officials are also coming out in support of Adm. Michael Mullen and Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ call to finally get rid of the discriminatory and harmful law. The top commanding general in Iraq, Gen. Raymond Odierno, has said he believes that everyone — gay and straight — should be allowed to serve in the military “as long as we are still able to fight our wars.” He told reporters Monday that the policy has been a “non-issue” to him.

Nonetheless, many in Congress are still hemming and hawing, purposely delaying any action on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Those arguing to take it slow, however, did get support from top Army, Air Force and Marine Corps officers who testified to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that they are not keen on overturning the 17-year-old law. Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey argued that “we just don’t know the impacts on readiness and military effectiveness.” Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway told lawmakers, “I would encourage your work, mine and that of the working group to be focused on a central issue and that is the readiness of the armed forces of the United States to fight this nation’s wars.” One wonders if their recalcitrance is generational rather than rational; both men are in their sixties.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman did announce, though, that he will sponsor legislation to repeal the ban on lesbian and gay service members. He will be joining Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a fellow member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, in advocating for the change in the Senate. He was realistic, however, about the prospects of lifting the ban. On Tuesday, he told reporters, “I’m not kidding myself … of course, I’d like to get it done this year, but it’s going to be hard.” Sen. Carl Levin, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee and ardent opponent of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” shares Lieberman’s doubt, telling reporters that he doesn’t think there are enough votes to end the law this year.

In other news, there has been incremental progress in the fight to enact same-sex marriage. In Minnesota, three bills relating to same-sex unions were heard before the House’s Civil Justice Committee on Monday. One proposal would allow two consenting adults to enter into “civil union contracts,” regardless of their gender. Another would recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states as legally valid in Minnesota. And the third — and most far-reaching legislation — would legalize gay marriage by removing gender-based terminology in existing state statute. Although no votes were taken on any of the bills and no additional hearings are scheduled, the conversation has begun.

Also, on Tuesday, Democrats in West Virginia’s House of Delegates shot down Republican attempts to ban same-sex marriage. The following day, Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler declared that effective immediately, the state would recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere and that Maryland agencies should begin affording out-of-state gay couples all the rights they have been awarded in other places. This is good news for same-sex couples who are barred from marriage in Maryland but could easily go to Washington, D.C., beginning next month to get married.

Perhaps we should all take our cue from our sisters and brothers in New York and vent our anger and frustration by actively opposing anti-LGBT politicians and wholeheartedly endorsing and supporting candidates and officials who have a proven track record of working for equality and justice for all Americans.

You can follow me on Twitter at @ErwindeLeon.

Grabbing the tiger's tail

Originally posted on DC Agenda

We are discriminated against for who we happen to be — gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

For LGBT of color, it is not uncommon to face discrimination for looking and, at times, sounding different. This double dose of societal bigotry is compounded by the homophobia they suffer within their own communities.

It is therefore groundbreaking that during New York City’s Chinatown Lunar New Year Parade yesterday, a 300-strong contingent of queer Asian Pacific Islanders was part of the festivities. Wearing rainbow bandannas, waving versions of the fish and the phoenix (traditional Chinese symbols for prosperity and renewal) and marching a costumed tiger with its own rainbow armbands, the group was not only supported by LGBT organizations but by prominent community and city leaders as well. The group explains why they are marching here:

Homophobia and discrimination continue to divide Asian American families and communities. Lunar New Year is a time when families come together to strengthen ties to our communities. This year, we are joining the Lunar New Year Parade to challenge homophobia and to honor all of the different kinds of families in our community.

They were there to educate the Chinese and wider Asian Pacific Islander communities that we are their daughters, sons, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, mothers and fathers. That there is no losing “face” in acknowledging — and even being proud of — a queer family member. That we can be fully ourselves while fulfilling our responsibilities to the family and the community. Their participation in the parade shows recent immigrants and those who cling to old ideas that we live in a democratic and pluralistic country where all are equal and where there is separation of church and state. Their presence gave hope to closeted and recently arrived Asian newcomers. They empowered and they were empowered.

While the inclusion of an LGBT group didn’t cause much controversy in New York City’s Lunar New Year parade, the same could not be said in the Westminster Vietnamese Tet Parade in California a week earlier. Little Saigon is located in Westminster and is home to the nation’s largest Vietnamese immigrant community. Several LGBT groups had registered to participate in the community’s Lunar New Year parade and several religious groups, including the Vietnamese Interfaith Council of America, which includes Christian and Buddhist religious leaders, immediately protested. Several Roman Catholic organizations, such as the Knights of Columbus and 50 members of the Vietnamese Martyrs Council, withdrew from the parade. However, Greg Johnson, the director of Westminster’s Department of Community Services & Recreation, said that only Catholic groups pulled out of the parade. More importantly, he stressed that the city cannot and should not discriminate against any one group based on race, gender or sexual orientation.

Hats off to the courageous women and men who grabbed the tiger by the tail, came out loud and proud as LGBT and Asian, and challenged conservative Asian Pacific Islander communities to reconsider their antiquated ideas about us and our families. Thank goodness for the freedoms we have in this country. Freedoms that many immigrants did not have in their native countries and now enjoy. Freedoms which are ours as well — a reality which they have to accept and respect.

You can follow Erwin on Twitter at @ErwindeLeon.

Rewind: Week of Feb.19

Originally posted on DC Agenda

Conservatives have descended upon the nation’s capital for their annual pow-wow and pep rally. They are poised and determined to win back the nation and in the process undermine hard-fought progress won by our community and allies.

The Conservative Political Action Conference, which began yesterday, acknowledges GOProud as one of its sponsors but does not allow any lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender voices to be heard in its colorful agenda. The only gay right-wing voices heard this week were those of author and blogger Andrew Sullivan and Britain’s openly-gay Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs Nick Herbert. They were both part of a forum at the Cato Institute that asked whether there is a place for gay people in the conservative movement.

Sullivan ended up debating National Organization for Marriage’s Maggie Gallagher on same-sex marriage while Herbert made solid arguments for welcoming LGBT people into the right-wing fold. The Tory pointed out that equality for all citizens is a basic tenet of conservatism and admitted that his party’s leadership had realized that if they were to remain relevant and win the votes they need, then they had no option but to open the doors to queer folk. His admonishment should be taken seriously by the GOP. The rest of the nation, particularly the next generation, is fast abandoning social conservatism and its demonization of LGBT individuals and families. If the Republican Party and other American conservatives are to live up to our ideals of freedom and equality, as well as secure the votes of gay conservatives and socially progressive independents, then they have to make room for those among us who’d like to be under their tent.

Unfortunately, social conservatism is very much alive and kicking in the United States, reinvigorated by the worsening disenchantment with the Obama administration and ineffectual Democratic “controlled” Congress.

In Virginia, Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell applied principles he articulated in his controversial graduate school thesis — that government policy should favor married couples over “cohabitators, homosexuals or fornicators” — by quietly and unceremoniously stripping protections for LGBT state employees two weeks ago. On Feb. 5, he signed an executive order that prohibits discrimination “on the basis of race, sex, color, national origin, religion, age, political affiliation, or against otherwise qualified persons with disabilities,” but not sexual orientation, which McDonnell’s predecessor, Democrat Tim Kaine, had added.

Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., the Catholic Archdiocese ended its 80-year-old foster care program this week in protest of the legalization of same-sex marriage in the city. The diocese’s social service arm responsible for the service, Catholic Charities, runs more than 20 programs for the District and receives $20 million from the city’s coffers. Although the church will be exempt from marrying same-sex couples, its leaders nonetheless chose to end aid to the needy, an apparent tantrum for not successfully bullying the D.C. City Council into abandoning gay marriage legislation.

The threat posed by LGBT people gaining basic human rights and acceptance in some societies is felt all the way to the top of the Vatican. Italian Cardinal Carlo Caffarra proclaimed that public officials who openly support same-sex marriage cannot consider themselves to be Catholic. It is worse for lawmakers who introduce or vote in favor of gay marriage bills. “It’s impossible to consider oneself a Catholic if that person in one way or another recognizes same-sex marriage as a right,” according to a doctrinal note Caffara released last weekend concerning “Marriage & Homosexual Unions.”

Such fundamentalist zealotry has gone to such extremes in Africa, where the very lives of gay, bisexual and transgender women and men are threatened every day.

In Malawi, the homosexual witch hunt has intensified since the arrest and incarceration of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, who held a public marriage ceremony in December. A 21-year-old man was sentenced to two months of community service for pasting pro-gay rights posters. A senior government minister expelled a woman from her area even after a court acquitted her on charges of having sex with two girls. A 60-year-old man has been arrested and accused of sodomizing a much younger man. Police are hunting for a group of underground gay rights activists who are distributing pro-gay rights leaflets.

In Uganda, it has been reported that David Bahati, chief of the Scout Board of Uganda and author of the pending anti-gay bill, is proposing that all serial homosexual offenders, including scouts and scout leaders, should be hanged. Children are not exempt. And to stoke anti-LGBT hysteria, Christian pastor Martin Ssempa has been showing gay pornography he downloaded from the Internet at his church to “educate” his flock. He also plans on taking his show on the road and to enlighten parliamentarians on the joys of gay sex.

However, while conservatives may feel particularly empowered now and will do all they can to halt our progress toward full equality, we do have allies and fair-minded politicians and leaders who are willing to do right by us and our constitution.

On Monday, the New Hampshire House rejected a bill that sought to repeal the state’s new same-sex marriage law. Opponents of the anti-LGBT bill, which outnumbered proponents two-to-one, felt strongly that it would be wrong to backtrack and to deny same-sex couples the rights afforded to opposite-sex couples.

Our military leaders and the administration continue to learn that repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is not an issue for the majority of Americans and those in the military. During a recent question and answer session with about two dozen troops, Adm. Michael Mullen once again confirmed that serving with openly gay service members is a non-issue for enlisted young women and men. Even former Vice President Dick Cheney has come around on the issue. In an interview on “This Week,” Cheney said, “Twenty years ago, the military were strong advocates of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ when I was secretary of defense. I think things have changed significantly since then.” He articulated his openness to the repeal of the discriminatory law, adding, “When the chiefs come forward and say, ‘We think we can do it,’ then it strikes me that it’s — it’s time to reconsider the policy.”

The GOP and conservatives seem to be finding their way out of the wilderness. This is not altogether a bad thing and can be good for our democracy. However, the Republican Party has to move into the 21st century, loosen the choke hold of religious fundamentalism and reclaim conservatism’s core values of limited government, individual freedom and fiscal responsibility.

You can follow me on Twitter at @ErwindeLeon.

The value of being counted

Originally posted on DC Agenda

How many gay, bisexual and transgender individuals does it take to create change? That’s hard to tell. How many of us are there?

Estimates of LGBT people range anywhere from 3 to 5 percent of the total population, but no one really knows. Although demographers and other social scientists have tried to approximate our size, the counts they produce are rough estimates at best. It is practically impossible to get a statistically representative and random sample from which anyone can extrapolate the total number of LGBT people in the country. Most researchers default to identifying their samples in metropolitan areas such as San Francisco and New York. That’s understandable as so since many of us flock to these places, but the reality is not all of us do.

It is crucial to know how many we are and where we live as we continue our struggle for equal rights. If we know how many we are, we can go to political candidates and elected officials and discuss with them our needs — as well as how many votes they stand to lose if they ignore us. We can approach government agencies and demand, as tax-paying citizens, the services and programs we require. We can turn to community-based organizations, nonprofits and foundations and let them know about our community’s issues. We can tell our neighbors and fellow Americans that there are millions of us and we can’t be ignored. We can find each other and better mobilize.

Numbers are powerful in our society and being able to tell how many millions strong we are is power. Consider how politicians have been vying for the votes of Latinos, for example, the fastest growing segment of Americans.

So, how do we begin counting? We can start by participating in the 2010 Census, which happens next month. The decennial count is mandated by the Constitution and attempts an accurate count of all Americans and households, which include lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and families. Census statistics determine not only congressional seats but the distribution of billions of federal dollars for social services. Philanthropic and nonprofit organizations use the information gathered by the U.S. Census Bureau to plan their programs and services. Researchers and journalists cull the data to make conclusions about certain groups. Politicians monitor who they need to curry favor from within their jurisdictions.

This year’s Census is groundbreaking. Our Families Count, a public education campaign spearheaded by LGBT leaders and community organizers, explains in its website:

What makes this year’s Census even more historic is the unprecedented and welcoming outreach by U.S. Census leaders and managers to include the entire lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) and allied community in these efforts, as a way to achieve the nation’s most accurate count possible.

Dr. Robert Groves, Director of the U.S. Census Bureau, endorsed this initiative: “We are charged each 10 years to provide Congress with a Census they trust to be accurate and complete. We are grateful to our LGBT community partners in helping us achieve this significant responsibility, and to help educate, motivate and inspire everyone to take part and above all, to be visible and counted.”

The bureau has nearly two dozen “partnership specialists” across the country who work closely with LGBT community groups and leaders to make sure that we all participate and are duly counted.

It must be acknowledged, however, that this effort is incomplete and just the beginning in the long and difficult process of painting a true picture of our numbers and lives. We will not be asked about our sexual orientation or gender identity. Only same-sex couples will give demographers an indication of our sexual orientation. Those of us who are living with a same-sex spouse or partner can indicate our relationship status by checking either the “husband/wife” or “unmarried partner” box.

Getting the U.S. Census Bureau to count individuals will have to come next. And it will not be easy. As the folks behind Our Families Count admit:

It takes years to successfully advocate for the inclusion of questions on the census, and the advocacy must be funded by congressional legislation. We are just emerging from the hostile and indifferent years of the previous administration, when this advocacy was largely ignored.

Nonetheless, the 2010 Census will provide a reliable count of same-sex couples in America and document how we are dispersed throughout all states, cities and counties. Moreover, many organizers of Our Families Count are leading an independent coalition that seeks to include us and our families in most major federal data collection efforts, such as the longer, annual Census Bureau form called the American Community Survey.

So when you get the Census form in the mail, fill it out. If for some reason you don’t get one, contact the U.S. Census Bureau. Make sure we are counted. Let everyone know that we are queer, that we are here, and that our families count.

You can follow me on Twitter at @ErwindeLeon.