Blogging for America

Yesterday, the White House, the Peoples' House, took the United States another step back into the 1950s. I am not talking about rolling back the environmental regulations that give us Clean Air (& Clean Water), though those are also VERY important for things that breathe and Mother Earth. No, I am referring to the Trump administration's decision to NOT include sexual orientation or gender identity on the 2020 Census. So, what does this really mean? Isn't the census for apportioning representatives? Taken every 10 years since 1790, yes, that is one of its primary purposes, but the other is more than the official count, but a survey of American households, housing, and workforce on which to base policy proposals. For instance, how many households are still without indoor plumbing, you know, flush toilets-- shockingly as of 2015 roughly 1.6 million people. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/04/23/1-6-million-americans-dont-have-indoor-plumbing-heres-where-they-live/);This information is used to assess substandard housing and design policies to fix this. So, what if the census does not collect data on gender identity and sexual orientation? Excluding LGBTQ persons, taxpayers, citizens from being counted means that justice is not being served, equality is not being reached. Information about same sex households informs the implementation of the Fair Housing Act-- yes, people can be refused housing in many states because of their sexual orientation ( and with the rise of religious Liberty laws, I bet this number of people discriminated against goes up). Same with the Violence Against Women Act, which when it was re-upped in 2015 also included LGBTQ persons and Native Americans, especially focusing on community programming and police training concerning issues of domestic abuse and sexual violence. These two federal Acts, and there are more, that impact LGBTQ people. It is very important that LGBTQ persons be counted for our policies to help all of us be truly equal and achieve "liberty, and justice for all." Not being counted means we are invisible, means we are being out back into the closet. Do not accept this, call your Senators & Congressional representatives. see:http://www.out.com/news-opinion/2017/3/28/breaking-trump-administration-removes-lgbtq-people-2020-census