Rep. Ted Deutch (FL-22), Chair of the LGBT Aging Issues Task Force, and a bipartisan group of 75 members of the U.S. House of Representatives demanded the Trump Administration reinstate a demographic question relating to participants’ gender identity to the National Survey of Older Americans Act Participants (NSOAAP).
“We have to ensure we are meeting the needs of the most vulnerable among us,” said Deutch. “Study after study has shown that transgender older adults face greater social isolation, food insecurity, and disparate health impacts. It is cruel to remove a previously included transgender-specific demographic question and, in essence, send a message to transgender seniors that their needs are not important. I am proud to stand with 75 of my colleagues in calling on the Administration on Community Living to make sure transgender seniors are counted, respected, and have access to assistance they deserve.”
The NSOAAP is used to evaluate whether the billions of dollars in funding for programs assisting older Americans are being used efficiently and effectively. Since 2014, the NSOAAP has included a specific demographic question relating to participants’ gender identity that yielded vital data on the extreme challenges facing LGBT elders. On March 13, 2017, the Administration on Community Living (ACL)—which oversees the NSOAAP—revealed that they intended to remove the all LGBT-specific questions from the 2017 survey. On June 22, 2017, ACL restored the demographic question relating to sexual orientation.
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