Summary
Forms are the front door to government services—for everything from getting a job to a COVID-19 vaccine—yet their current design creates systemic barriers for LGBTQ+ people. Forms shape how our government understands, prioritizes, and addresses the needs of its people, but for LGBTQ+ communities, many government forms include demographic questions that are unnecessarily invasive, inadequate, and unclear in their purpose. This deepens mistrust, creates barriers to critical benefits, and prevents collection of data needed to provide effective, equitable services. In this talk, U.S. Digital Service team members will share lessons learned from direct engagement with an intersectional group of LGBTQ+ nonprofit organizations and researchers and statisticians across government and standards organizations as well as an examination of underlying policies and tech systems. We’ll provide a framework for navigating sexual orientation and gender identity, as a first step toward designing equitable forms for all.
Key Insights
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Nearly all current major federal surveys fail to adequately capture bisexual and transgender individuals, leading to invisibility in data.
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The US Digital Service uses two-week discovery sprints to rapidly identify and address government service problems.
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Inclusive, intersectional community engagement is essential, as the LGBTQ+ community is not monolithic but diverse in perspectives and needs.
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The principle of doing no harm guides data collection — unnecessary or overly intrusive data collection risks privacy breaches and harm.
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Language and terminology around gender and sexual orientation must be flexible and evolve to avoid becoming outdated or offensive.
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Implementing standardized questions across federal agencies is challenging but critical for a seamless, one-government user experience.
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Multi-select and write-in options for SOGI data provide affirmation but create statistical and technical complexity for analysis.
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The two-step question on sex assigned at birth and current gender identity is more accurate for statistics but less suitable for benefits forms.
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User-centered research at the VA includes inclusive screener questionnaires and trauma-informed centralized review to reduce participant distress.
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Recent government progress includes adding SOGI questions to the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey and removing medical requirements for gender marker changes on passports.
Notable Quotes
"If you don't collect data on somebody, they become invisible and nobody should be invisible."
"Government forms need to represent identity and respect privacy so we can better serve all people."
"The LGBTQ+ population is growing rapidly, with over 10 times more Gen Z identifying as LGBTQ+ than earlier generations."
"We want to do no harm when collecting personal data, especially about gender identity and sexual orientation."
"The community is not a monolith; it speaks with multiple voices and perspectives."
"Change in government moves slowly, but we can try incremental and agile approaches like piloting and testing."
"People use gender and sex interchangeably, which complicates data collection and medical understanding."
"The State Department removed burdensome medical requirements and now allows self-attestation for gender marker changes on passports."
"Multi-select options give flexibility and affirmation but can overwhelm people with limited English proficiency."
"We need interoperable data systems so that different agencies can share and understand data consistently."
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