Bill to enhance LGBT data collection introduced in Congress

by Rob Howard
Associate Editor

A bill to improve the collection of data about LGBT people in government surveys was introduced in the US House of Representatives on Thursday. According to an article by Chris Johnson in the Washington Blade, the bill was introduced by Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.). It “would require the U.S. government to enhance data collection in federal surveys on the LGBT population.

“The legislation, known as the LGBT Data Inclusion Act, would codify in law that inclusion of questions in questionnaires — such as the National Health Interview Survey, the American Community Survey and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System — that would allow LGBT people to identify themselves as such to gain information about the population.

“Grijalva, a co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said in a statement the inclusion of LGBT questions in federal surveys is important because data collection is necessary to create policy benefiting the LGBT community.”

The data collection would be voluntary. It would allow LGBT persons to provided “self-disclosed information on sexual orientation and gender identity in certain surveys, and for other purposes,” according to the Act’s preamble.

According to the Blade, “’Public officials draft and implement policies impacting the lives of everyone living in the United States – it is vital that they have robust information about the diverse communities within our populace, including the LGBT community,’ Grijalva said. ‘The current lack of sound data about sexual orientation and gender identity in many federal surveys means we are ill-prepared to meet the needs of these communities. To go uncounted is to be unseen in the eyes of policymakers, which is why we must develop a credible and confidential understanding of these vulnerable populations we currently know too little about.’”

Representative Grijalva is a member of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, and is well known for taking progressive positions on issues before the Congress. He is a particularly outspoken ally on LGBT and transgender rights.

“Many LGBT advocates are unsatisfied with the questioning,” according to the Blade. “For starters, although sexual-orientation questions were included, the federal government has never implemented questions on gender identity. Amid discontent, the Obama administration has started an interagency review to evaluate federal data gathering for LGBT people.

“Grijalva said in a statement the legislation he’s set to introduce will build on LGBT data collections underway within the Obama administration.

“’I commend the administration for convening an interagency working group to discuss best practices for federal LGBT data collection,’ Grijalva said. ‘This bill builds on the interagency working group’s success by making data collection within this community law. I urge my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to join me in ending those knowledge gaps by passing the LGBT Data Inclusion Act.’”

The Blade said, “According to Grijalva’s office, the LGBT Data Inclusion Act is endorsed by 14 prominent civil rights groups: the Center for American Progress; the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles; the Human Rights Campaign; the National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund, the National Center for Transgender Equality; the True Colors Fund; Transgender Law Center; the National Center for Lesbian Rights; GLSEN; GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders; the National Black Justice Coalition; the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health; the National Women’s Law Center; and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.”

Original co-sponsors of the bill, which has also been endorsed by the LGBT Equality Caucus, include Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), David Cicilline (D-R.I.), Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), Jim Langevin (D-R.I.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) and Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif). A source familiar with the bill said the list of co-sponsors is expected to grow prior to formal introduction on Thursday.

According to a statement by the LGBT Research and Communications Project at the Center for American Progress, “The United States is home to at least 9 million people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender, or LGBT. Despite recent advances in social acceptance and legal protections, such as the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that gave same-sex couples in every state the right to marry, LGBT people and their families across the country continue to face discrimination in areas of everyday life such as employment, housing, and health care.

“In order to make meaningful progress in improving the lives of LGBT Americans, policymakers, researchers, advocates, and service providers need more and better data related to the experiences and needs of the LGBT population. Sexual orientation and gender identity, or SOGI, data are a critical component of accurately assessing the current problems that LGBT people experience—such as mental health and substance use disparities and barriers in access to health insurance coverage and health care—and developing effective policies and programs to address them.”

The Gayly - May 27, 2016 @ 2:20 p.m.