The U.S. Census Bureau is now testing sexual orientation and gender identity questions on its American Community Survey. It received approval from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget to begin with the August survey and expects to publish the results sometime in early 2026.
With President Joe Biden issuing a directive to see better federal collection of LGBTQ demographic data two years ago during Pride Month in June, it had been expected that OMB officials would sign off on adding the SOGI questions to the census’ survey. It did so on July 11.
As the Bay Area Reporter had reported in May, census officials’ target for launching the test had been this month.
“As planned, the 2024 American Community Survey SOGI Test is underway. The test began earlier this month (August) and will continue through late 2024. The Census Bureau will publish the results of the test roughly 18 months later,” a spokesperson for the federal agency wrote Thursday in an emailed reply to the B.A.R.
The article features elements of the recent blog post co-written by Caroline Medina, Whitman-Walker Institute’s Director of Policy with Meeta Anand, Senior Director of Census & Data Equity at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, detailing the importance of the ongoing efforts to advance data equity by making the ACS more inclusive of underserved communities.
