Advocates seeking transgender people to complete the U.S. Trans Survey later this year
Outreach efforts include soliciting pledges from participants to complete the nation's largest survey of transgender individuals.
The National Center for Transgender Equality and its various partners, including many longtime activists are circulating a pledge among their networks and close contacts to encourage members of the community to complete the 2022 U.S. Trans Survey later this year.
The last national survey of transgender people was held in 2015, and sought to collect demographic information, gauge life experiences, and assess some of the problems facing transgender people that require action, either by government or local nonprofits to address and resolve some of those issues.
Information from the survey is often utilized by transgender advocacy groups when they take public policy positions or advocate for more money or resources, much in the same way that other advocacy groups utilize data from the U.S. Census.
Because transgender and gender-nonconforming people may be closeted or may choose to self-isolate in some areas of the country for safety reasons, and because general surveys don’t ask or break down data by the gender identity of respondents, activists are asking people who identify as something under the transgender/nonbinary/gender-nonconforming umbrella to commit to filling out the survey, which can be completed online for those with Internet access.
By signing the U.S. Trans Sruvey pledge and providing personal contact information, members of the trans community ages 16 and up can receive information about the survey, learn how to participate once it officially launches later this spring, and set aside time to complete the survey to ensure that researchers can amass more data and draw better conclusions based on the information obtained. Signing the pledge is non-binding, meaning no one is required to complete the survey if they change their mind and refuse to participate.
The questions that are often broached in the survey include typically address issues like health care access, HIV, homelessness, access to public resources or government funds, IDs, pronouns, instances of discrimination, and mental health and suicidal ideation, to name just a few.
Seven years ago, nearly 28,000 people took the survey, making it the largest single survey of transgender, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming individuals in the United States.
Related: Transgender adults are three times more likely to experience food insecurity
The National Center for Transgender Equality, which spearheads the survey and distribution efforts, has partnered with the Black Trans Advocacy Coalition, the TransLatin@ Coalition, the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance, and other community-based groups or nonprofits serving transgender and nonbinary people, according to a statement from Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, the executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality.
“The Black Trans Advocacy Coalition is incredibly excited to be a partner for the 2022 U.S. Trans Survey, the leading source for insight into the real-life experiences of the trans community,” Carter Brown, the national executive director of the Black Trans Advocacy Coalition, said in a statement. “As the largest trans survey in the U.S., we know that it’s critical to ensure that the experiences of as many Black binary and nonbinary trans people as possible are captured in the survey. We are encouraging everyone to be a part of history and pledge to take the 2022 U.S. Trans Survey.”
“Our organization is grateful to partner on such an important milestone for our community with the 2022 U.S. Trans Survey,” Bamby Salcedo, the president and CEO of the TransLatin@ Coalition, added. “The data we will generate as a community will provide support for our continued advocacy for our specific needs.”
See also:
Israel lifts ban on surrogacy for same-sex couples, single males, trans individuals
Arizona Republican wants to jail doctors who provide medical care to transgender youth
Oklahoma might allow parents to ban books with LGBTQ or “sexual” content from libraries
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