The US Census was expected to include LGBTQ people starting with the 2020 survey as the community got excited that everybody’s “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” would be acknowledged as a report was published detailing which new categories would appear the next time the survey comes around.
However, those hopes were swiftly crushed as the US Census people came forward to say that the inclusion of those woke categories was “inadvertent.” Sarah Kate Ellis, the CEO of LGBTQ media monitoring organisation GLAAD, blames President Donald Trump.
She says it’s a “systematic effort” by Trump’s administration “to erase LGBT people.”
Census Bureau isn’t bowing to pressure to include LGBTQ people
Last year, the feds started to put pressure on the Census Bureau to include LGBTQ people’s identities in the data they collect, because it’s important. There’s been a US Census every decade since 1790 (which was only a few years after America became America, so it’s a bit of a longstanding tradition). They collect data about the languages people speak and what plumbing facilities they use in their houses, so why not their sexuality and identified gender?
As usual, the Democrats in Congress had the right idea. They pushed for focused census questions about gender identity and sexual orientation so that new legislation could be passed with a better understanding of the LGBTQ, thus making American LGBTQ citizens’ lives easier.
National LGBTQ Task Force responds
A response has been issued by the National LGBTQ Task Force, whose Criminal and Economic Justice Project Director, Meghan Maury, said that Trump’s White House “has taken yet another step to deny LGBTQ people freedom, justice, and equity.” She also spoke of the importance of the data collected in the US Census, since the information the Census Bureau receives assists in the enforcement of legislation such as the Violence Against Women Act and the Fair Housing Act, as well as helping in the distribution of “resources like housing supports and food stamps.”
So, she says if the US government will not accept LGBTQ people and open themselves to information about how many there are in the country, then it cannot “do its job” to make sure minorities receive a fair treatment, and “adequate access” to necessary rights, protections, and services.
She has called upon Trump and his team to advertently collect information on LGBTQ people, and also wants Congress “to conduct oversight hearings” to find out why Trump’s administration decided at the last second to deny LGBTQ people their right to existence.