Burbank congressman wants Census Bureau to count LGBT community (Los Angeles Times)
U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) is asking Congress to encourage the U.S. Census Bureau to collect more data on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans, saying the information is needed to write better policy.
Seventeen California members joined Schiff and other representatives in a letter to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science Tuesday, asking the committee to support the data collection as part of the fiscal 2017 appropriations bill.
"The Census Bureau’s data collection efforts has always played a significant role in our ability to understand the communities that we represent and how best to represent them. LGBT Americans — like every American — deserve to be counted and recognized in all federally-supported surveys," the letter states.
In 2013, the Census Bureau begin asking about same-sex couples' marital status as part of its American Community Survey. The letter called that change a step forward, but said "the fact remains that we know little else about the social and economic circumstances of the LGBT population at large."
Source: Los Angeles Times