The U.S. Census Bureau is considering ways to ask about sex. People have opinions.
Dozens of health officials, civil rights groups, individuals and businesses weighed in on how the Bureau of Statistics should ask about sexual orientation and gender identity for the first time in its most comprehensive survey of American life.
An Associated Press review of 91 written public comments posted last month showed most support for the addition, although it was not without constructive criticism.
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The proposed questions, aimed at people aged 15 and over, will be tested later this year. If given final approval, they would be the first to ask questions directly about these topics in the American Community Survey. The survey has already asked about commute times, internet access, family life, income, education level, disability and military service.
Many of those who submitted public comments said the proposed question would challenge the diversity of LGBTQ+ people in the United States at a time when state legislatures are attempting to limit what LGBTQ issues can be discussed in public schools and limit LGBTQ ability. He said it would help him understand it more deeply. Transgender people must change their driver’s license and birth certificate.
Gary Gates, a former demographer who researched LGBTQ+ issues at the University of California, Los Angeles, said, “Currently, data resources are so limited that many policy discussions and legislative efforts focus on these populations.” It’s in stark contrast.”
The Pride flag is raised at the Tennessee State Capitol on January 22, 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee. Many people and groups are weighing in on how the U.S. Census Bureau should ask about sexual orientation and gender identity for the first time in its most comprehensive survey. A survey of American life. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)
But Gates objected to language that would allow people to respond to questions about sexual orientation with “straight, that’s not gay.”
“This language is clearly offensive,” Gates wrote. “Not being gay is hardly an accurate definition of a heterosexual identity. . . . Why specifically emphasize that they are not homosexual? It is simply a definition of a heterosexual identity.” That’s not an appropriate explanation.”
David Ernest Munar, president and CEO of health food company Howard Brown Health, said the question is that the words used to describe sexual orientation and gender identity are constantly changing, especially among young people. He said that some non-English speakers may not understand terms such as “heterosexual”. Care services for Chicago’s LGBTQ community.
Some lamented the lack of categories for people with intersex traits, or for asexuals or pansexuals. Intersex is an umbrella term for a number of conditions in which a person’s internal or external sexual characteristics are not exactly the same as a typical male or female body. Asexual people don’t feel sexual feelings, while pansexual people are attracted to people regardless of their gender.
Mr René Coig objected to respondents being asked their sex at birth and then their current sex. Asking people to answer the first question as “male” or “female” alienates transgender people who don’t want to be identified by those labels, says Coig, a doctoral candidate at the University of Washington. he said.
Some were also disappointed that questions about gender separated transgender into male, female, and non-binary categories instead of including options for transgender men and transgender women.
“This may mean that they are not ‘men enough’ or ‘women enough’ to choose between the categories of men and women. Instead, the categories of men and women are different. “Maybe it means being a third category ‘transgender,'” said Amy Leite Bennett. An employee of the Hennepin County Health and Human Services Department in Minneapolis.
The American Community Survey’s current questions only record same-sex couples living together through questions about household relationships, which by some estimates only account for about one-sixth of the LGBTQ+ population in the United States. As a result, the survey misses out not only transgender people, but also those who are single or not cohabiting.
The only other census that asks about sexual orientation and gender identity is a more limited, experimental Household Pulse Survey created to measure changes during the COVID-19 pandemic.
People who fill out American Community Survey forms typically answer questions for other family members in what is called a proxy response. As such, some public comments expressed concern that parents would not be able to know if their child identifies as her LGBTQ+.
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Respondents can answer questions online, by mail, by phone, or through an in-person interview. Given privacy concerns, the Census Bureau recommends using flashcards for in-person interviews and numbered response categories for people who do not want other household members to know their answers. is proposed.
Several Republicans in the U.S. Senate object to some of the proposed questions. Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and John D. Vance of Ohio told Census Director Robert Santos in a letter last November that the survey could be politicized and the integrity of the data could be compromised. asked them to halt plans to ask people about their gender identity.
The Rutherford Institute, a conservative civil liberties organization, said in public comment that the proposed question would violate people’s privacy rights, adding that “many people are extremely reluctant to provide such detailed personal information.” “I feel displeased,” he added.
