Today is the first day of Gay Pride Month.
On June 11, 1999, 30 years after the Stonewall Inn Riots, also called Stonewall Uprising, President Clinton declared June National Gay Pride Month. Also, in June 1999, the National Park Service added the Stonewall Inn and surrounding streets to the National Register of Historic Places.
Over the years, the U.S. Census has changed surveys to capture the complexities of American families by adding questions to identify same-sex couples and marriages. In July 2021, the Household Pulse Survey added sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) questions to capture the effects of the pandemic on the LBGTQ community.
Table 1. Changes to Datasets to Reflect Complexity of American Families
Source: https://www2.census.gov/topics/families/same-sex-couples/faq/sscplfactsheet-final.pdf. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/11/census-bureau-survey-explores-sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity.html.
Last fall, Meghan Maury pointed out that same-sex couple data is not the same as sexual orientation and gender identity data. While SOGI questions were added to the Household Pulse Survey, it only asked about respondents’ sexual orientation and gender identity, not household members. A feasibility study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Census found that participants viewed sexual orientation and gender identity as private matters that were not disclosed or answered for others.
Given the current wave of legislation to limit the participation of transgender youths in sports or to have procedures to align birth gender with gender identity, I fear we are decades away from collecting data that accurately reflects the experiences of the LBGTQ community. I encourage you to follow the work of Megan and Lee Badgett, who are advocates for LBGTQ equality.
Join me in advocating for a world where we can safely let our pride show.
