Mr. Sulu, gay marriage and the Census

Turn in your Census form. You don't want this guy coming after you.

Happy Census Day! April 1 is the day the 2010 Census forms are officially due, but it’s kind of a soft deadline. The Census Bureau will keep accepting forms by mail until mid-April, and will start door-to-door surveys May 1 to collect information from households who haven’t yet responded.

Of course, they’d prefer to get as many mail responses as possible. It costs the Census Bureau $57 to visit an average household, versus the 42 cents it costs to mail a survey in. Only 54 percent of the nation’s estimated 134 million households have so far responded to the Census.

It’s certainly been interesting to see the wide variety of celebrities and unique promotions used to encourage people to return their 2010 Census form today. But the video below may be the funniest yet: Star Trek’s George Takei and his husband Brad Altman — resplendent in a Starfleet uniform and tinfoil hat, respectively — encouraging gay couples to fill out the Census. As Mr. Sulu tells us, this year marks the first time the Census will tally gay and lesbian couples, married or unmarried. Even if a same-sex couple lives in a state that does not allow gay marriage, the Census will count them if they consider themselves married.

Oh, my…