White House unveils improved data collection plans for LGBTQ+ community
For the first time, the federal government will take a formalized approach to collecting and analyzing data that represents and serves the U.S. LGBTQ+ community.
The Biden-Harris administration has released its Federal Evidence Agenda on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex (LGBTQI+) Equity roadmap to help federal agencies collect accurate data and evidence reflecting the needs of the historically underserved sexual and gender orientation minority communities.
The new Evidence Agenda includes:
- More evidence-informed programs and policies;
- Specific questions agencies will consider to improve the health and well-being of LGBTQ+ people;
- Important guidelines for collecting data, including the safeguards protecting individual privacy, security, and civil rights.
The Evidence Agenda builds on the Biden-Harris Administration’s historic progress to advance LGBTQ+ data equity, including:
- Securing $10 million for 2023 in the bipartisan government funding bill to research adding questions about LGBTQI+ Americans to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey;
- Releasing LGBTQI+ inclusive federal household surveys through the Census Bureau’s Pulse Survey, which provided vital and timely data about the higher rates of economic, housing, and food insecurity that LGBTQI+ households faced during the COVID-19 pandemic;
- Releasing a comprehensive consensus study from the Department of Health and Human Services on measuring sexual orientation and gender identity data to inform research on how to best serve LGBTQI+ Americans; and
- Options to provide personal gender identity information on federal forms, including offering passports with “X” gender markers.
The new framework builds on President Joe Biden’s earlier executive order promising to advance LGBTQ+ equality across several societal corners.
“The hope is that this evidence agenda will help point the way toward agencies across [the] federal government collecting and using this data from external sources,” Meghan Maury (they/them), a senior advisor for the U.S. Census Bureau and a policy advisor for data science at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, told Nextgov.
Maury said that of the 11 federal surveys currently circulating to capture data on the LGBTQ+ population, the Department of Health and Human Services generates the majority of these questionnaires. The Evidence Agenda will explore increasing the reach and range of such surveys to include more information on economic disparities within our community, thereby guiding the creation of policy solutions that will help serve the community where most needed.
