Census Bureau Caught In Political Mess Over LGBT Data

Census Bureau Caught In Political Mess Over LGBT Data Enlarge this image toggle caption Carolyn Kaster/AP Carolyn Kaster/AP Updated Tuesday, September 5 During the Obama administration, at least four federal agencies, including the Justice Department, asked the Census Bureau to add questions about sexual orientation and gender identity to the American Community Survey, NPR has learned. Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., have co- The U.S. Census Bureau might have started asking Americans about sexual orientation and gender identity if the Department of Justice had not backed off its request for information about LGBT populations, former Census Bureau Director John Thompson told NPR's Code Switch The Justice Department laid out the "legal authority supporting the necessity" for collecting that information in a spreadsheet of statutes attached to its letter to the Census Bureau dated Nov. 4, 2016. Justice Department officials under the Trump administration contacted the Census Bureau about the "appropriateness" of certain sexual orientation and gender identity topics appearing on the upcoming American Community Survey, according to a letter sent in March by the Commerce Department that was published on Carper's website. Speaking to reporters in July at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Thompson emphasized that the Census Bureau's decision to not propose sexual orientation and gender identity questions came after "detailed work" by career staffers from the bureau and from the Commerce Department, who, he added, looked at the agencies' requests "very scientifically and very objectively."