19 June 2009

Changing Minds

Two significant pieces of news this morning.

First, President Obama has directed the United States Census Bureau to look into what changes will need to be made to tabulation software that would allow for the count of same-sex marriages, unions, and partnerships in the 2010 census. Shortly before taking office, the administration was told that it was too late to change the census questionnaires and tabulation software to include a count of America's LGBT community.

Rep. Mike Quigley (Democrat-IL), Rahm Emmanuel's replacement in the House of Representatives, sent a letter to the president earlier this week urging him to order the bureau to include same-sex marriage data to the 2010 count.

The second major story of the morning: The Justice Department has agreed to let same-sex couples use their spouse’s surname when they apply for passports from the U.S. State Department.

Ok...now...can we talk about that antiquated HIV travel ban, Mr. President?