United States Reps. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis; Barney Frank, D-Mass.; Steven Israel, D-N.Y.; Jared Polis, D-Colo.; and nearly 50 other colleagues recently sent a letter to Office of Management and Budget ( OMB ) Director Peter Orszag, asking that the 2010 census count same-sex married couples, according to a Congressional press release.
The landscape has changed greatly since the 2000 census, when no same-sex marriages were allowed in the U.S. Now, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Maine and Iowa allow gay marriage, while other states seem to be on the verge of doing so.
The members of Congress said that they want the census to reflect reality. "We are deeply concerned about the implications of this policy for same-sex couples and for the integrity of the census as a whole and firmly believe the ( Census ) Bureau's primary objective should be to collect data and report it, not collect data and alter it," the members said in their letter.
