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This article by Dawn Ennis at lgbtq nation lays out the facts really clearly:
The 2020 US Census wasn't going to measure us, even before Trump took office. It has never measured LGBTQ people.
What has changed is the Trump administration's position towards including LGBTQ people in the the annual American Community Survey, the preliminary step towards being included in the every-ten-year census.
As demographer Gary Gates explained,
"Despite advice from the Departments of Justice, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development suggesting a strong federal need for better data on the LGBT population, the Bureau now argues that such need does not exist... Their change of heart from at least considering LGBT inclusion in the ACS to now ruling it out offers evidence that the Census Bureau isn’t telling the whole story and may have let politics interfere with decisions about content.”
It's a more nuanced truth than what was reported, about we LGBTQ people being "erased" from the census - as we were never counted in the first place.
But it's still not good news.
At least now we have the scoop.
The light in me recognizes and acknowledges the light in you,
Lee
3 comments:
Thanks for this, Lee. Naturally, I saw the headlines about this and assumed it was a change, something that had been there that the new administration had "erased." It's so important - always, but now more than ever - to really get our facts straight and not go from zero-to-60 on the righteous indignation scale without knowing exactly what's occurred. You are and asset to humanity my friend, and that ain't "fake news."
Thanks, Karol Like you, I was really happy to get a solid footing about what actually happened.
And you're a gem, too!
Lee, my step-son works for the US Census Bureau and his area of expertise in using census data to determine transgender opulations. He was even quoted in the NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/09/upshot/the-search-for-the-best-estimate-of-the-transgender-population.html?_r=0 He is Benjamin Cerf Harris here. When I told him how angry I was about the news I had read, he made the same comment that you did in your post- they have not been counted before, so nothing was really new. Of course he knows also the reality- and his doctoral work looked largely at LGBTQ issues in economics as well. He calmed me while also ramping up my worry. :-)
Dana Lawrence
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