Two Things Health Researchers And Allies Can Do Right Now To Advance LGBT Research

Editor’s note: In a related piece, former US Assistant Secretary for Aging and administrator of the Administration for Community Living Kathy Greenlee also reflects on the elimination of the sexual orientation and gender identity measure from the National Survey of Older Americans Act Participants. Over the past two decades, the field of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) health research has grown exponentially, thanks, in part, to dedicated researchers who developed strategies for identifying LGBT people in federal data and to a series of initiatives aimed at increasing sponsorship of LGBT health studies by the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. Under the Obama administration, measures of sexual orientation were added to 12 federal surveys and studies and gender identity measures were added to seven. Federal programs, like Medicare, now actively incentivize collection of information on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI). States have also made key contributions here, with more than half of states including a measure of sexual orientation and/or gender identity in their version of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) questionnaire. LGBT Data Collection Rollbacks Recently, the Trump administration has begun to roll back gains made in the inclusion of LGBT populations in federal data collection by canceling consideration of SOGI measures in the 2020 Census and eliminating ...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - Category: Health Management Authors: Tags: Featured Health Equity Population Health Quality Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Census data LGBT issues sexual orientation and gender identity Source Type: blogs