Acknowledging Differences makes all the Difference.

Maddie Ecker
December 18, 2011
Upper Dublin High School
Thomas Wood has high hopes for the 2010 census. At the age of 30, Wood has built up a
successful psychotherapy and teaching practice in the Philadelphia area dealing with sex
and relationships. Wood and his partner recently bought a home in a historic Wilmington
neighborhood and are excited about their future. This is the first time Wood will be
checking off boxes for the national headcount. He hopes that this years census will bring
about an awareness of the gay community.
Eli, 30, a member of Philadelphias transgender community, however, has a
different opinion. He finds it difficult to completely trust the government with the
personal details that construct the person that he is. Trans people are discriminated
against all the time, says Eli, a professional sexuality educator who speaks out in hopes
of spreading understanding and acceptance of transgender people. It is difficult to say
whether knowing where the transgender community is most abundant will help or hinder
them.
Wood and Eli each represent communities that are rapidly evolving and striving
for more acceptance. However, being counted in the 2010 census has installed not only
hope for acknowledgment but fear of intrusion and discomfort in the LGBTQ
community.
Wood believes that if the government acknowledges that people are diverse in
their gender identification and sexual orientation, the LGBTQ population will be well
represented. With optimistic conviction, he said, I trust the government, Im not cynical
or paranoid about what they will do with the information they collect. Wood explained
that people who are gay have the luxury of being visible or invisible in their community.
Although being invisible might create a shelter for the person, Wood hopes that stepping
out from beneath that refuge might spark awareness, change and even uneasiness.
I hope for discomfort, Wood says, explaining that comfort comes from
assuming that heterosexuality is the norm. He thinks the census could be a good indicator
of how large the LGBTQ population actually is and open peoples eyes to the diversity
around them.
We belong to a society that often values comfort and conformity. The rules and
boundaries of past generations are slowly starting to fade away and leave room for a
greater acceptance of significantly different ideas. The census illustrates the evolution of
the population throughout the years, a simple picture of the nation we inhabit. However,
the census has not fully addressed the diversity of gender identification and sexual
orientations that are sexual identities that are now being expressed throughout the United
States. Among those who have emerged from beneath the false assumption of
heterosexual normalcy is Eli.
Eli began to identify as a different gender during his early 20s, which was a time
to figure out who he was and to determine how people would react to him and what they
would assume about him. With growing acceptance of transgender people, Elis story is
not uncommon. Eli lives in the gray area between the rigid boundaries of binary gender

the strict identification of being either male or female. He is more comfortable when
people call him Eli and leave confusing pronouns like he or she at the door.
The census asks questions that require limited answers. The census does not
include categories of name and gender that would be applicable to Elis gender identity.
Eli has only filled out the census once, which took place when he was transitioning.
Although he refers to himself as Eli, he completed the census based on his legal
documents that identify him by his female name and gender. Eli finds it problematic to
fully trust the government to recognize and change the census. He believes there is no
accurate way to account for the details that fill up someones life.
Many transgender people dont want the government to know what their gender
identity and sexual orientation are for fear of being misrepresented. Not only is it
challenging to explain such a complicated situation to people collecting census
information, Eli finds that knowing that whoever works for the census has access to that
information is a distressing thought.
Both men believe that the census should alter and improve the way it asks people
to describe themselves. Eli thinks the options for gender identity should be choose not to
disclose, other or transgender. Eli believes that these identifiers would be a step in
the right direction because people should be accounted for as being people. Wood, the
optimistic new homeowner, thinks that the census should add specific identity categories
that would offer a more accurate representation of certain lifestyles. People could then
choose as many categories as they believe would identify and describe them.
It is only when we hear from the people, Wood remarks, that we realize that
these boxes dont really capture them. With each new day comes the promise of change
and acceptance. Each day brings about another personality that will have a difficult time
fitting itself into one of those boxes. It is the future that delivers a new box, a new
category that acclimates itself to the changes of the people.