MAY 1, 2024 — The U.S. Census Bureau published a Federal Register notice asking for public comment on a proposed test of sexual orientation and gender identity questions on the American Community Survey (ACS). The test would begin this summer and continue into next year.

The ACS is an ongoing survey that collects detailed housing and socioeconomic data. It allows the Census Bureau to provide timely and relevant housing and socioeconomic statistics, even for low levels of geography.

As part of the process for adding new questions to the ACS, the Census Bureau tests potential questions to evaluate the quality of the data collected. The Census Bureau proposes testing questions about sexual orientation and gender identity to meet the needs of other federal agencies that have expressed interest in or have identified legal uses for the information, such as enforcing civil rights and equal employment measures.

In addition, discussions with a variety of stakeholders connected to these topics, data users, other federal agencies and experts in the fields of survey methodology and statistics informed this proposal. The research will inform recommendations for potentially adding the questions to the ACS.

The test would follow the protocols of the actual ACS – with one person asked to respond to the survey on behalf of the entire household. These particular questions are asked about people 15 years of age or older. Households are invited to respond to the survey online, by paper questionnaire or by phone.

In September 2023, the Census Bureau published a Federal Register notice seeking initial public feedback on the proposed test. The public comments received are available at regulations.gov and are summarized and addressed in the current Federal Register notice supporting materials. For example, a few comments expressed privacy or confidentiality concerns about the sensitive nature of these data. The materials explain that anytime the Census Bureau measures small population groups it takes particular care to provide quality data while ensuring confidentiality of respondent data. The Census Bureau follows strict protocols for protecting respondent data and, by law, must keep any information about individual respondents confidential.

The current Federal Register notice gives the public a final opportunity to provide feedback before the Census Bureau submits its recommendations to the Office of Management and Budget for approval. The public may provide feedback through May 30, 2024, online.

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