We Are To Be Counted

If a Congressman has his way we are going to be counted in the next census.

Rep. Grijalva Announces Bill to Add LGBT Data in Federal Surveys
NBC News
By Sandra Lilley
May 27, 2016

Arizona Democratic congressman Raúl Grijalva announced a bipartisan bill to require that federal surveys such as the Census include data collection on sexual orientation and gender identity to strengthen the LGBT community's access to resources and legislation.

The LGBT Data Inclusion Act would ensure that LGBT individuals have a mechanism to confidentially provide data and information on them and their households in surveys put out by the federal government.

"Public officials draft and implement policies impacting the lives of everyone living in the United States," said Rep. Grijalva in a statement. "It is vital that they have robust information about the diverse communities within our populace, including the LGBT community."

It is very hard to get good data on LGBT people, especially us the “T” for an oppressed group there is a strong desire to remain anonymous out of fear of discrimination. Also for many trans people once we transition we consider ourselves to be either male or female and wouldn’t list trans.

There is strong bipartisan backing for the bill.

The bipartisan bill has 68 original cosponsors including Latino Democrats Ruben Gallego (D-TX), Luis Gutiérrez (D-IL), José A. Serrano (D-NY), Tony Cárdenas (D-CA), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), Rubén Hinojosa (D-TX) and Filemón Vela (D-TX).

New York Republican congressman Richard Hanna is also a co-sponsor.

I hope it passes because it will give us a starting point in being counted.