The Williams Institute is quietly tucked away in the University of California Los Angeles, but it has quietly taken the lead in such an underreported area of society that they are the only serious researchers attempting to cover it.  The Williams Institute is covering gay Americans, and compiling data that even the U.S. Census Bureau has been barred from. 

The institute, in addition to demographic information (where the LGBT community lives, how much money they make, where it gets spent, etc) is also delving into old Census data looking for couples that list residing with a partner (distinct from a roommate on the census form) and pair up with members of the same sex.  Thanks to some bigotry in Bill Clinton’s first term, this is how the LGBT population is measured in America. 

Not surprisingly, the Williams Institute is perpetually turning our excellent research on every aspect of LGBT society, but has come to spend most of their time trying to lessen the need for their existence—the Williams Institute is one of the premier forces pushing for the 2010 census data gathering to include gay marriages and civil unions. 

By Pinke.biz writer Ben Ray. Check out his blog at What's Required.

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