U.S. Census Bureau officials said Thursday that concerns for
accuracy have led them to delay counting legally married same-sex
couples in the 2010 census. Officials expect the information to appear
in the 2020 count.

The 2010 census marks the first time
officials have attempted to include same-sex couples in the population
count. Since the bureau's June announcement, officials have discovered
roadblocks to that goal, reports the Associated Press. 

“'Statistical
problems related to the development of the 2010 census form and the
evolving legal state of same-sex relationships led census officials to
conclude that trying to include married gay couples in the overall
snapshot of household marital status could yield an inaccurate
number,’” said Gary Gates, a University of California, Los Angeles,
demographer advising the bureau on gay issues, according to the AP.

“Instead,
same-sex married couples will be added into the category for unmarried
partners, just as they were for the 2000 census. But in a marked policy
departure, the agency plans to make the data on same-sex couples who
described themselves as married available on a state-by-state basis,”
the AP reported.