Erased

LGBT Americans are part of the cultural mainstream in the 21st century, but elements of society -- and now government -- want to see that we're excluded. And now add the Census Bureau wants to shove us back in the closet.

The 2020 census will soon be here but LGBT people will not be counted as a category. The Census Bureau counts televisions in households but will have no data on LGBT America.

While at first blush this might seem like a minor slight, it's much more important than phobic myopia. "Census information helps determine the allocation of federally funded social services that are critically important to so many members of the LGBTQ community," said Nancy Marcus, Law and Policy Project Senior Advisor at Lambda Legal (details here).

President Obama's administration planned to include LGBT questions when they were designing the next census, but that was all thrown out the window after Donald Trump was inaugurated.

As the Lambda Legal press release states: "The Trump Administration is trying to make it harder for the most vulnerable members of the LGBTQ community to get the help they need."

But, hey, he waived an upside-down rainbow flag for two seconds, so that's what really counts, right?