The Census Bureau, which struggles to keep up with the rapid changes in American life, is about to start categorizing same-sex married couples as families.Up until now, gay families like mine have been reporting our family data to the Census Bureau and they have been segregating our family data apart from heterosexual families.
The 2013 American Community Survey results, which will be reported in September, will mark the first time the census integrates an estimated 180,000 same-sex married couples with statistics concerning the nation’s 56 million families. Until now, they had been categorized as unmarried partners, even when couples reported themselves as spouses.
Because of the large disparity between the number of gay and straight married households, combining the two is not expected to have a significant effect on the statistics that scholars and planners use to analyze how families are changing. Its significance is largely symbolic of the growing acceptance of gays in American society. “I think the American public already thinks same-sex married couples are families, and the Census Bureau is just catching up with public opinion,” said Andrew J. Cherlin, a sociologist at Johns Hopkins University who studies families.
Starting in 2016, Americans will be offered four separate family options for the Census: opposite-sex spouses, opposite-sex unmarried partners, same-sex spouses, or same-sex partners. People will also be able to identify if they are in civil unions or domestic partnerships.