Engaging Diverse Voices through Research & Resources

There is no way to indicate either sexual orientation or nuanced gender identity on the U.S. Census, making data on the U.S. LGBTQ+ population both difficult to locate and incomplete at best.

Gender has been included as a question on the U.S. Census since its inception, but the only options provided are “male” and “female.” This forces nonbinary people to choose between either misgendering themselves or not being counted in the Census at all, and it also fails to represent trans people who may identify within the binary but still constitute part of the LGBTQ+ community. 

In terms of sexual orientation, as of 2020 the Census does allow people to indicate whether or not they are part of a same-sex marriage or civil union. However, this is not the same thing as sexual orientation, and this approach leaves out large swathes of the LGBTQ+ population who are not in long-term monogamous partnerships, or who identify as LGBTQ+ and are in straight-appearing relationships. All of these groups are valid members of the LGBTQ+ community, and deserve to be counted as such if they so choose. 

In July 2021, the U.S. Census Bureau did begin asking about sexual orientation and gender identity, which they refer to as SOGI, on their Household Pulse Survey (HPS), an experimental survey designed to measure the impact of COVID-19 on American households (source). This marks the first time that the U.S. Census Bureau has ever officially collected data on the broader LGBTQ+ community, and is an important first step; however, the small and experimental nature of the HPS limits the impact of its findings. There is still a long ways to go before gender identity and sexual orientation are accurately measured by the U.S. government.

If and when questions about gender identity and sexual orientation are finally included on the U.S. Census, it should be noted that there will still likely be questions about data quality and accuracy due to many LGBTQ+ people not being “out,” as well as individuals often being misgendered by their family members. Until greater societal understanding and acceptance of LGBTQ+ people is achieved and social stigma is eradicated, issues with LGBTQ+ data collection will likely persist. 

In the meantime, key data on the U.S. LGBTQ+ population is usually collected by educational or private institutions, such as the UCLA Williams Institute, Pew Research Center, and Gallup.