Raúl Grijalva: “I thank Mrs. Maloney, who is the chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, and the LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus for…”

“I thank Mrs. Maloney, who is the chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, and the LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus for their work and support for the LGBTQI+ Data Inclusion Act. As we celebrate Pride Month and remember the 53rd anniversary of the Stonewall riots, we recognize the progress, lived experience, and suffering of the LGBTQI+ community. In many ways our Federal Government is falling short on the promise to craft and implement inclusive public policy, in part, because we lack the necessary data to address the issues affecting the LGBTQI+ community. {time} 1500 While some data is currently collected and Federal agents have made progress, far too many LGBTQI+ individuals remain overlooked in many Federal data collection efforts. As the Center for American Progress has calculated, more than five in six LGBTQ adults cannot be identified by existing questions in non- experimental survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau such as the American Community Survey and the Census, which only accounts for cohabitating same-sex couples. That is why I introduced this legislation, the LGBTQI+ Data Inclusion Act, to ensure we have robust and accurate data. The bill would require Federal surveys to include data collection on sexual orientation, gender identity, and variations of sex characteristics on a voluntary basis. Again, let me emphasize what the Chair emphasized, this bill would only collect voluntary, self- disclosed data.…”