On Capitol Hill, it’s appropriations season, and members are sending “Dear Colleague” letters left and right, seeking their colleagues’ support for programmatic funding requests.
One such letter, being circulated by Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) is seeking “support for expanded data collection by the Census Bureau on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals.”
The members’s appeal to colleagues continues:
The letter’s goal is language that would urge the Census Bureau “to study the feasibility of expanding data collection on the LGBT population in its future federal population surveys and to report to the Committee within 180 days on its plans.”
The Census, through a roundabout way in 2010, did attempt to find out how many gay and lesbian couples were married. Times were simpler then.
Now, post Obergefell, it’s all about gender identity these days. You might be surprised to learn there are now at least
58 gender identities to choose from on Facebook.
The Census is mandatory and you are required to fill it out and return it. (If you don’t, they’ll eventually send somebody to your house!)
The problem the Census Bureau faces, of course, is that these populations are indeed quite small. Transgendered individuals comprise 0.3 percent of the population, at best estimates. If Schiff and Ros-Lehtinen get their way, we’ll find out if the current estimates are correct.
It’s not tossed around much these days, but the term “keep the government out of my bedroom” may be making a comeback.
