BOSTON, July 27 (UPI) — The U.S. Census Bureau will unfairly ignore all same-sex marriages in Massachusetts during its nationwide 2010 census, a corporate lawyer says.

Lawyer Pete Dziedzic, who plans to marry his boyfriend in October in Boston, says it is “upsetting” that current federal regulations will not permit married same-sex couples from being counted as married couples on the upcoming census, The Boston Globe reported Sunday.

“We’ve followed all the rules,” he said. “We’re going to get married, and now the federal government is saying, ‘No, you’re different, and when we count how many married couples there are, you don’t count.’ It’s offensive, and it’s very, very upsetting.”

The census decision is based on the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which stopped married same-sex couples in Massachusetts from receiving federal benefits typically offered to married couples.

The Globe said same-sex marriage advocates say the act should not apply to the 2010 U.S. Census as the survey would not result in any immediate personal benefits for potential same-sex participants.

Instead, by excluding the estimated 11,000 same-sex couples who have been married in the state, those individuals’ personal data will not be figured into nationwide statistics for married couples and families.

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