Tuesday night, Equality Texas in Austin and the U.S. Census hosted the first LGBT Town Hall in the country!

In an extraordinary policy change, the Census Bureau recently announced that when gay and lesbian couples indicate they are married on the 2010 form, the Census will count them as married. The Census is the first Federal agency to recognize marriage of gay and lesbian couples, even though it does not ask anyone about their sexual orientation.

There are many reasons why participating in this Census is important to the LGBT community, but the more obvious reason is that it affects how more than $400 billion of federal funding is spent each year on everything from hospitals to schools and job training. The Census also provides visibility to LGBT households by assuring they are counted, and this visibility opens the opportunity for contact with groups that can become allies.

The form is short, it’s simply and it’s important. Fill It Out. Mail It Back!

Read more: 2010.census.gov/2010census/