In a reversal of the Bush administration's policies, Census 2010 will recognize same-sex marriages. These are now legal in six states, however, until Friday, there was not going to be anyway to indicate this on the upcoming census.
The change to the census is a positive move, but it is not a sign that the Obama administration is fully on board with extending full equal rights to GLBT citizens.
For example, though Obama just signed a memo providing some of the benefits of married couples to the same-sex partners of gay federal employees, it left out some of the most crucial benefits, like the right to health insurance.
Similarly, the current administration has not repealed something called the "Defense of Marriage Act." Passed in 1993, this law allows states to reject another state's gay marriages and prevents the federal government from recognizing those marriages. This combined with the fact that Obama has yet to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," (the policy preventing gay men and lesbians from openly serving in the military), has left some people in the gay community feeling as if the change to the census is just a token move.
It is still early in the Obama presidency, and despite these lags, there have been many positive developments so far. Let's hope that we will be able to look back in the future and say that by the end of his tenure, on the GLBT front, and others, there were many more.