(RNS) In a policy shift experts say could radically reshape demographic profiles of the gay community, the U.S. Census this year will let same-sex couples label themselves as husband or wife, even if their relationships are not recognized by state or federal law.

The change will appear on Census forms to be mailed out next week. The forms do not explicitly recognize domestic partnerships, civil unions or same-sex marriages. Instead, the documents offer one of two boxes for same-sex couples — “husband or wife” or “unmarried partners.”

The census bureau plans to leave it to responders to characterize their own relationships.

“We have a policy of self-identification,” said Igor Alves, a media specialist with the agency. “If they want to put husband or unmarried partner, that is up to them. We want to tally what they select.”

The new policy took effect last summer, when the Commerce Department released a legal opinion that argued the federal government could tabulate and release same-sex marriage data under the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act.

In the last decennial count, officials re-coded same-sex husband or wife answers to “unmarried partners,” since no state in the country recognized same-sex marriage at the time.

Since then, the legal landscape has changed. Five states — Iowa, Connecticut, Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire — and the District of Columbia now allow gay couples to legally marry, leaving census tabulators in a new bind.

The new numbers could drastically affect political debates on gay issues, said Steven Goldstein, chairman of the New Jersey gay-rights group Garden State Equality.

“Politicians use the Census as a yardstick for a community’s power,” he said. “That in turn affects the enactment of public policies.”