Representatives of about 20 groups involved with GLBT concerns for Lincoln, Omaha, and elsewhere in the state met at Mahoney State Park on February 26 to form the Nebraska Diversity Coalition. Members representing each of the participating groups wrote a vision statement and a set of goals. Goals were prioritized into immediate, short-term, and long-term categories. After discussing all statements and goals, the entire coalition focused on a vision of Nebraska in which all people have equal rights. The mission of the coalition is to work toward that vision by sharing resources, reaching out and developing the community. Goals included items such as sharing resources, disseminating information, and passing legislation. Future meetings are scheduled.

---

WASHINGTON - Although the upcoming census has no questions that explicitly ask about sexual orientation, there is a way for GLBT couples to be counted. The Human Rights Campaign will join several other groups in urging same-sex couples living in the same household to mark the "Unmarried Partners" option when asked to describe their relationships.

"The Human Rights Campaign is urging same-sex couples who share a household to answer the U.S. Census honestly because this data will be used to track important changes in the American family," said HRC Executive Director Elizabeth Birch.

HRC is supporting "Make Your Family Count," a national public education campaign being sponsored by the Institute for Gay and Lesbian Strategic Studies and the Policy Institute of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

"Make Your Family Count," will try to let all GLBT couples know that they can be counted by marking the "Unmarried Partners" box on the census mail forms that will be sent to every household in the United States in March and April. The campaign has also launched a website, www.wecount.org, with information about the census and guidance to GLBT couples on answering the census forms.

The category "Unmarried Partner" appeared for the first time on census forms in 1990. Only 150,000 households were counted as consisting of same-sex unmarried partners - clearly a severe undercount. Since then, the census has revised its figures upward, to 5.9 million unmarried partner households in 1998, of which approximately 28 percent, or 1.7 million households, were unmarried partners of the same sex.

"While the census question isn't about sexual orientation or identity, it is nevertheless an important opportunity for our community to be counted," said Birch. "However, because of fear of discrimination many people may not feel safe enough to answer honestly and this may lead to an undercount. We look forward to the 2010 census when more discriminatory barriers will have fallen and questions about sexual orientation can be asked more directly and answered more honestly." For each same-sex couple who describes their relationship as "unmarried partners" on the census short form, researchers will also be able to determine demographics including race, age and number of children in the household. For the households that receive the long form, researchers also will be able to determine education, citizenship and income, among other things.

The Human Rights Campaign is the nation's largest national lesbian and gay political organization with members throughout the country. HRC effectively lobbies Congress, provides campaign support and educates the public to ensure that lesbian and gay Americans can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community.

Human Rights Campaign
919 18th Street, NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20006
E-mail: hrc@hrc.org

Source: Human Rights Campaign

---