Donald Trump is erasing LGBT people from official records
President Trump’s administration is removing LGBT people from official government records.
It had been hoped that sexual orientation and gender identity would be included on the USA’s next national census, due in 2020.
Yesterday, the U.S. Census admitted that it had “inadvertently” included “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” in a much-awaited report outlining new categories for the survey.
There had been a sustained campaign to have the factors included on national records.
Last year, various federal agencies urged the Census Bureau to include sexual orientation and gender in their data, saying it was crucial for law enforcement and public services.
Now GLAAD president Sarah Kate Ellis has said there’s a “systematic effort on behalf of the Trump administration to erase LGBT people.”
She added: “By erasing LGBTQ Americans from the 2020 U.S. Census, the Trump Administration is adding a disgusting entry to a long list of tactics they’ve adopted to legally deny services and legitimacy to hard-working LGBTQ Americans.
“The Trump Administration is trying hard to erase the LGBTQ community from the fabric of America, but visibility has always been one of the LGBTQ community’s greatest strengths.”
The Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act in 2013, which made way for the census to change how it tracks same-sex households.
However the administration has now clarified that there are no plans to recognise LGBT numbers in the 2020 survey.
Meghan Maury, Criminal and Economic Justice Project Director of the National LGBTQ Task Force, said: “Today, the Trump Administration has taken yet another step to deny LGBTQ people freedom, justice, and equity, by choosing to exclude us from the 2020 Census and American Community Survey.
“LGBTQ people are not counted on the Census — no data is collected on sexual orientation or gender identity.
“Information from these surveys helps the government to enforce federal laws like the Violence Against Women Act and the Fair Housing Act and to determine how to allocate resources like housing supports and food stamps.
“If the government doesn’t know how many LGBTQ people live in a community, how can it do its job to ensure we’re getting fair and adequate access to the rights, protections and services we need?
“We call on President Trump and his Administration to begin collecting sexual orientation and gender identity data on the American Community Survey as soon as possible and urge Congress to conduct oversight hearings to reveal why the Administration made the last-minute decision not to collect data on LGBTQ people.”
Trump has also been accused of “declaring war” on trans groups after appointing this man.
