Census Bureau Seeks Funding to Research Potential Questions on Sexuality and Gender

The Census Bureau will be researching future questions to dig deeper into data on sexuality and gender in America.

Previously, the bureau only asked about cohabiting couples’ sexual orientation, something that has left a hole in the data for the sexual orientation of couples who don’t live together. In the past, the only gender options were male and female, which didn’t account for transgender people. Now the census is requesting $10 million to evaluate the best way to ask about both topics.

Since its survey comes out every 10 years, the multimillion-dollar funding will be spent over several years before the next census is released.

1 IN 300 CANADIANS IDENTIFIES AS TRANSGENDER OR NONBINARY: REPORT

The survey changed from 2010 to 2020, including a fill-in-the-blank section under race so that people could input the complexity of their ties with race and ethnicity. The 2010 survey also saw some confusion surrounding the reporting of couple’s genders, accidentally inflating the number of same-sex couples.

U.S. passports now include a third “X” gender on their applications. It’s meant to cater to transgender and nonbinary passport holders.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Canada updated its own census survey last year, finding that it had missed over 100,000 of its citizens that identify as transgender or nonbinary.