HAPPY PRIDE!: THE CENSUS + OUR LGBTQIA+ COMMUNITIES
Pride month is here, and while we're all celebrating differently this year, let's make the 2020 Census our chance to be seen and to be counted. In 2020, the Census has taken some steps forward when it comes to LGBTQIA+ people being counted: for the first time in history, same-sex relationships can be identified in one question. Even though gender that isn’t binary cannot yet be recorded, YOU decide how you want to answer the gender question—regardless of what is on your birth certificate. Progress, not perfection. It's still vital to participate, because there is so much at stake for our communities.
For the next ten years, levels of government and nonprofit funding, school districts and school funding, city planning, government representation, and so much more will be based on how many people fill out the Census. With an accurate count of all of LGBTQIA+ people, especially queer BIPOC, our community gets more power, more visibility, and more representation for the next decade. #QueerTheCensus so we can get the resources we need and deserve over the next 10 years. Read more here from our friends at the National LGBTQ Task Force on why the Census matters for LGBTQIA+ communities.
Count yourself in TODAY online or by calling 844-330-2020.
YOU MATTER is artist Anna Sergeeva's contribution to Art+Action's COME TO YOUR CENSUS campaign. The featured images above are from the community-generated "Shades of San Francisco" photography archive from the San Francisco Public Library. Click here to find these images to share on your social media platforms to encourage your community to fill out the Census. We've made it easy... below is a caption you can post too.
SUGGESTED SOCIAL MEDIA CAPTION
How are you celebrating Pride this year? Did you know that for the first time ever, you can identify as living with a same sex partner on the #2020Census?
The Census tells the federal government where to send $10,000,000,000 a year in public housing funds. Trans people are nearly 5x more likely to use public housing benefits than cis people. #QueerTheCensus so our community can receive the resources that we need. Fill out this 9-question confidential survey by October 31—online at my2020Census.gov by phone (844-330-2020) or by mail.
Despite the contentious history of the Census, it remains a critical tool for local and national change. The virtual conversation will unpack how Census participation connects to the urgent matters at hand: the senseless violence and oppression of the Black community and the necessary dismantling of a police force that perpetuates the inequities of our nation. The conversation will also center the power of the Census in supporting political representation, public resource allocation, identifying and counting communities, and how the Census addresses police brutality.
Featuring Del Seymour, founder of Code Tenderloin, Tyra Fennell, the founding director of Imprint City, and Robert Clinton, city wide Census project manager for the San Francisco Office of Civic Engagement & Immigrant Affairs (OCEIA), the panel will be introduced by YBCA CEO Deborah Cullinan and moderated by Professor of Philosophy at the University of San Francisco and SF Urban Film Fest Humanities Advisor, Ron Sundstrom.
Follow Art+Action on Instagram and like us on Facebook for updates about the campaign or donate here to help us commission artists and mobilize communities to COME TO YOUR CENSUS.
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About Art+Action Art+Action—a coalition for civic participation that spans art, creative, community, business, technology, philanthropy, activist, and government sectors—has launched a multilingual arts-driven campaign that positions artists as catalysts to humanize the issues around the 2020 Census. Ignited by support from San Francisco’s Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs (OCEIA), and in partnership with trusted institutions and messengers including Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA)—our Headquarters and a Lead Partner—we've launched a campaign comprised of artist commissions, public programming, community events, exhibitions, and performances to galvanize communities to participate to receive their fair share of resources and political representation for the next decade.
