By: Caroline Medina, Senior Advisor for Data Policy at Movement Advancement Project
Standard Deviations blog posts represent the views of the author/organization, but not necessarily those of The Census Project.
The U.S. Census Bureau’s mission is to produce objective, high-quality data to inform evidence-based decision-making. Collecting accurate data on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) through its surveys supports that goal, equipping policymakers, researchers, and service providers with information to identify disparities, allocate resources equitably, and evaluate programs effectively.
The Bureau had made meaningful progress heading into 2025–emebedding SOGI data considerations into agency practices, adding measures to key surveys, advancing methodological research, and engaging subject-matter experts and communities. These developments positioned the Bureau to better reflect the demographic realities of the nation’s diverse population, meet evolving data needs, and shape policy decisions.
January marked a critical turning point for LGBTQ data at the Census Bureau. As detailed in MAP’s recent report on the federal SOGI data landscape under the second Trump administration, drastic changes occurred at the Census Bureau and more widely across the federal statistical system. Much of these changes derive from President Trump signing Executive Order 14168 on the first day of his second term. This order directs agencies to collect data only on sex as “male” or “female” and to stop collecting information about gender identity.
This directive–which contradicts decades of research on how to accurately and responsibly measure sex and gender–has triggered widespread rollbacks of gender identity measures and, in some cases, sexual orientation measures across the federal statistical system, including the Census Bureau. These changes raise serious concerns about scientific integrity, government accountability, and public trust in federal data collection.
Changes to Census Bureau Data Collection Under EO 14168
Recent analysis by the Williams Institute conservatively estimates that 360 federal data collections were affected by Executive Order 14168 (EO 14168), with hundreds of gender identity measures and dozens of sexual orientation measures removed from national surveys, administrative forms, program monitoring systems, and more. More than 80% of these changes were implemented without a Federal Register notice and public comment opportunity.
At the Census Bureau, the directive has driven changes to surveys, methodological research, webpages, and agency priorities. For example:
- Household Pulse Survey: Gender identity measures were removed from the relaunched version of the Household Pulse Survey (HPS), now known as Household Trends and Outlook Survey1. An experimental, high-frequency survey originally developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, HPS provided near real-time data on the health and economic well-being of households for policy monitoring and crisis response planning. HPS SOGI data have been used by researchers, advocates, state governments, and federal agencies such as the Census Bureau to examine poverty and labor market experiences of LGBTQ people. The Bureau has also used HPS to conduct methodological research, such as testing and evaluating new SOGI measure designs.
- Annual Business Survey: Sexual orientation and gender identity questions were removed from the Bureau’s Annual Business Survey (ABS), which collects data on the characteristics of employer businesses and their owners nationwide. ABS helps government officials, industry leaders, businesses, and researchers across sectors understand patterns of entrepreneurship, assess business assistance needs, allocate resources, support underserved communities, and guide research and development investments.
- American Community Survey: The Census Bureau halted its research to assess the feasibility of adding gender identity measures to the American Community Survey (ACS), the nation’s premier survey providing annual data on the social, economic, housing, and demographic characteristics of the U.S. population. Prior to implementation of EO 14168, the Bureau conducted cognitive research and a field test to evaluate question wording, response categories, data quality, and more.
In addition to these survey-specific changes, EO 14168 also rescinded Biden-era executive orders and resulting agency documents that created a framework for evidence-based, inclusive data practices. This includes the Census Bureau’s SOGI Data Action Plan, which detailed how the agency would leverage SOGI data to advance equity and goals outlined under the Federal Evidence Agenda on LGBTQI+ equity.
Real-World Consequences of Recent Changes
These changes are not merely technical revisions. Federal data systems shape civil rights enforcement, allocation of public resources, policy design and evaluation, and the integrity of evidence-based governance.
Civil Rights Enforcement and Public Investment: The American Community Survey (ACS) is one of the nation’s most influential data sources, informing policymaking, civil rights enforcement, and helping guide distribution of trillions of dollars in federal funding each year.
In 2022, the Department of Justice asked the Census Bureau to research adding SOGI measures to the ACS because those data would, for example, support its work to enforce nondiscrimination protections related to employment. A 2024 survey by the Center for American Progress found that nearly 1 in 4 LGBTQI+ adults reported experiencing discrimination in the workplace in the previous year.
ACS data also shape where billions of public dollars go—informing decisions about schools, housing, health care, infrastructure, and disaster recovery—and directly influence the policies that determine communities’ economic stability, health, and opportunity every day. Halting ACS SOGI research prolongs the absence of baseline data needed to better measure and address disparate outcomes, evaluate whether protections and policies are working as intended, and assess whether publicly funded programs are equitably serving LGBTQ communities.
Data for Policy and Research: Removing SOGI measures from Census Bureau surveys hinders efforts to understand the needs and experiences of LGBTQ populations, obscures the real-world impacts of policy decisions, and limits the evidence needed to identify patterns of harm and guide effective prevention and response strategies.
The removal of gender identity measures from the Household Pulse Survey eliminates a source of high-frequency data on the health and economic well-being of LGBTQ adults during moments of crisis. It also eliminates an innovative federal testing ground for refining SOGI questions—slowing methodological improvements that strengthen data quality across surveys. This year, as the survey includes questions about attitudes and behaviors related to 2030 Census participation to inform planning efforts, the absence of gender identity measures means the perspectives and experiences of transgender people will not be captured or reflected in those preparations.
Removing SOGI questions from the Annual Business Survey eliminates the only nationally representative federal data source on LGBTQ-owned employer businesses, making it far harder to identify disparities in entrepreneurship, access to capital, and business growth. As a result, policymakers and researchers lose a critical tool for targeting economic supports, evaluating small business programs, and advancing equitable economic development strategies.
Data Governance: EO 14168 also rescinded a broader framework that supported institutionalizing evidence-based LGBTQ data governance, such as Office of Management and Budget guidance for how federal agencies should collect SOGI data on federal surveys, as well as the Federal Evidence Agenda, which helped coordinate cross-government efforts to promote scientifically rigorous, responsible SOGI data practices that safeguarded privacy, security, and civil rights.
These foundational efforts have been swiftly dismantled over the course of the last year, raising concerns about stability, transparency, and scientific integrity. Because federal surveys shape how the nation understands itself, decisions about who is counted—and who is excluded—carry lasting implications for policy, accountability, and public trust.
Stakeholder Responses to Census Bureau Rollbacks
Even amid sweeping rollbacks, important accountability tools can be used to document, challenge, and potentially reverse the removal of SOGI measures from federal data systems.
Public Comments: Submitting public comments remains a critical way to build a formal record when collections are modified. Even when agencies proceed with changes, that record can shape future agency actions, oversight, and litigation. This kind of public engagement has proven consequential. Advocacy by MAP and partner organizations contributed to the Bureau of Justice Statistics reversing its proposed removal of questions documenting hate crimes motivated by anti-transgender bias from the National Crime Victimization Survey, which is conducted by the Census Bureau. Preserving that question ensures continued data collection necessary to inform enforcement of federal laws like the Hate Crimes Prevention Act and the Hate Crimes Statistics Act, and to track bias motivated violence.
Litigation: Legal action remains a central accountability tool. Litigation has led to the successful restoration of hundreds of public health datasets and webpages. Freedom of Information Act litigation is also underway to compel the Census Bureau to publish its ACS SOGI research in ways that are consistent with Title 13 confidentiality protections. These litigation efforts are not just about individual datasets–but about reinforcing norms of transparency, scientific integrity, and lawful administrative process.
Congressional Oversight: Congress also plays a critical role in oversight and accountability. Through inquiries, investigations, appropriations processes, and reporting requirements, lawmakers can require agencies to document, justify, and publicly explain changes to federal data collections and act to hold federal agencies to account. For example, recent appropriations report language calls on the Census Bureau to produce a list of datasets removed or modified as a result of recent executive orders, explain why the changes occurred, and how data users can access them in their unaltered form. Compliance with this directive would result in a crucial record of rollbacks to SOGI and other kinds of federal data, and equip researchers, advocates, and policymakers with the information needed to assess their scope and impact.
Beyond SOGI: The Broader Stakes
The removal of SOGI measures from federal surveys is not only about LGBTQ data. It raises broader questions about the stability, scientific integrity, accountability, and public trust in federal statistical systems.
Federal statistical agencies depend on public trust. Respondents participate in Census Bureau surveys because they believe their information will be used responsibly, in compliance with strong privacy and confidentiality safeguards, and according to consistent scientific standards. Government agencies, researchers, community-based organizations, and businesses rely on Census Bureau data because of adherence to rigorous methods and trusted analysis. When entire populations are removed from measurement through abrupt policy shifts, it risks destabilizing data systems and eroding confidence in the accuracy, consistency, and accessibility of federal statistics.
Voluntary SOGI data collection—when grounded in a clearly defined purpose, strong confidentiality protections, and scientific rigor—strengthens equitable policymaking, intersectional research, and accountability. The issue is not whether federal surveys should evolve; they always do. The question is whether changes will be guided by evidence and transparency—or by shifting political priorities.
Conclusion
Federal data systems are foundational to evidence-based governance. Decisions about who is counted—and who is not—shape civil rights enforcement, the allocation of public resources, and public trust for years to come. Safeguarding the integrity, transparency, and scientific independence of those systems is essential not only for LGBTQ communities, but for the well-being of federal statistics as a whole.
To learn more about the changes to SOGI data across federal agencies under the second Trump administration, check out MAP’s full report.
- In 2024, the Census Bureau announced the HPS would relaunch as the Household Trends and Outlook Pulse Survey featuring a new, panel survey methodology and expanded sample size of nearly 30,000 households. HTOPS collection began in April 2025 but release of public-use files has become less frequent and survey documentation has been less detailed. See SHADAC’s recent analysis for more information. ↩︎
