For Immediate Release: June 27th, 2019 

Media Contact: Lora L. Tucker 

Phone: 954-765-6024 

Email: lora@lgbtcenters.org

Supreme Court's ruling on Citizenship Question on the 2020 Census

Ft. Lauderdale - The Supreme Court today decided to block the inclusion of an untested citizenship question to the 2020 Census.  This confirms that widespread concern about the administration’s political motives was heard.

We applaud the Supreme Court’s decision, and the decision to include, for the first time ever, a question about same- or opposite-sex married or unmarried partnerships on the 2020 Census.  But there is still work to be done. The Census does not explicitly ask about gender identity or sexual orientation.  And although the goal of the Census is to count everyone living in the U.S., certain populations are inevitably under-counted including LGBTQ people, people of color, people who are experiencing homelessness, and people living in rural areas.

The LGBTQ population must be accurately represented on the 2020 Census to ensure that the allocation of $675 billion dollars in federal funds per year to programs such as SNAP, Medicaid, CHIP, and Section 8 Housing is properly allocated. Additionally, seats for the House of Representatives are assigned based on population sizes determined in the census count.

The Supreme Court’s decision today demonstrates a continued commitment to protecting the interests of all communities. 16 million people were not counted in the 2010 Census.  To ensure fair access to democracy and social services funding, let's make sure the LGBTQ community is accurately represented in 2020.  Learn more about the upcoming census here.

CenterLink develops strong, sustainable LGBT community centers and builds a thriving center network that creates healthy, vibrant communities. Founded in 1994, CenterLink plays an important role in addressing the challenges centers face by helping them to improve their organizational and service delivery capacity, access public resources, and engage their regional communities in the grassroots social justice movement. www.lgbtcenters.org. 

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