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Stop leaving us out

Stop leaving us out: missing information on LGBT people in the U.S. Census reflects pervasive data gaps worldwide
Contributed by: 
Dr. Felicity Daly - OutRight Global Research Coordinator

OutRight is concerned that the 2020 U.S. census will not collect data on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI). This was to be a new category for the national demographic study proposed in a March 2017 U.S. Census Bureau document and then apparently scrapped from a subsequent version.  American LGBT activists cite this as further evidence of the Trump Administration’s antipathy toward our communities.

The National LGBTQ Task Force, which urged the inclusion of SOGI in the 2020 census, recently asked, "If the government doesn't know how many LGBTQ people live in a community, how can it do its job to ensure we're getting fair and adequate access to the rights, protections and services we need?"


Screenshot from EU LGBT Survey Video

To better understand what collecting data on SOGI could accomplish, consider the U.S. Census Bureau’s objectives for gathering data on gender. The Census Bureau asserts that “Knowing the gender of people in the community…helps government and communities enforce laws, regulations, and policies against discrimination on the basis of gender”.

We know that LGBTI people experience extensive discrimination world-wide. A 2012 European Union survey of 93,079 LGBT people found “almost half…felt personally discriminated against or harassed on the grounds of sexual orientation.” Considering that EU countries generally have more tolerant laws and social attitudes than other regions where OutRight works, these findings are striking. Yet few countries collect demographic data among our communities which could be analysed with factors such as disability, education, employment and housing to inform efforts to address the exclusion that LGBTI people face.


Screenshot from EU LGBT Survey

Missing data on LGBTI people’s lived realities is undermining progress towards violence prevention. As our Executive Director noted recently in The Guardian “Comprehensive data on hate crimes and state-sponsored violence against LGBT people is just non-existent in a lot of countries…the most consistent violence tends to be where there is the least government documentation.” 

Glaring gaps such as these motivated OutRight to launch a new program to enhance our capacity to design, conduct and deliver multi-country research. OutRight’s efforts to Map LGBTIQ Rights Globally will build upon the kind of qualitative research we have historically produced and generate new data that helps fill in missing information on LGBTI people.  

We will undertake studies which provide greater and more quantifiable data about the lived reality of difference based on sexual orientation, gender identify and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) globally. A key focus of our new research program will be to collect data about LGBTI people’s inclusion in social and economic development interventions where there are vast gaps about our communities’ access to basic services delivered to the general population, such as education and health.

There are extensive gaps in quantitative data on education access, attainment and outcomes for LGBTI people in low and middle income countries. Most available information is related to bullying, discrimination, and harassment based on SOGI in schools and universities.

Further analysis of unsafe school contexts in Bangladesh and Thailand suggests that poor academic achievement, missing class and dropping out impacts LGBT students’ mental health and decision making leading to self-harm. Given that LGBTI people’s educational attainment impacts future employment and national economic growth, we need a better picture world-wide that assures the right to education and removes barriers to sustainable development.

Underlying missing data is a vicious circle where discrimination creates the barriers for inclusion of LGBTI people in data collection resulting in lack of evidence which could help inform more inclusive responses. Discriminatory attitudes of politicians contribute to ongoing lack of information on SOGI related discrimination in the U.S. and elsewhere.

The inclusion of SOGIESC issues in demographic surveys, like the U.S. Census, is an important goal to ensure systematic inclusion. OutRight’s will continue to work with LGBTI community organisations to reveal insights into the lived realities of community members so that we can provide an evidence base which can be used to claim our rights and improve access to services.

Published on April 5, 2017       | OutRight Action International an LGBT human rights organization

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Source URL: https://outrightinternational.org/content/stop-leaving-us-out