Update on Florida & Federal Evidence Agenda Essay
Hello everyone. I am writing this while watching the TV show Dinosaur Train with my son. This show, which combines his two favorite things, dinosaurs and trains, has him thoroughly entertained. As things seemingly get worse for LGBTQIA+ people by the day, doing these small things is the way I cope with the crazy hatred that is happening in the world. This is a reminder to take care of yourself; the world can be a rough place and we always need to make sure we take time for ourselves and our family and friends. This week, I want to talk about some updates in Florida & Minnesota and an interesting report which was released by the Federal Government in January that can provide guidance to public and nonprofit organizations.
Florida Update: Race to the bottom
Florida seems to be in a race to the bottom in transphobic laws. It certainly doesn’t help that their governor, Ron DeSantis, is planning a run for President in 2024. To start, they have expanded the “Don’t Say Gay” bills, which limits discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity, to all grades. As a reminder, technically every person has a sexual orientation and a gender identity, not just LGBTQIA+ people. But the purpose of this is to prevent discussion of LGBTQIA+ issues in public schools and to basically erase queer people.
There are two bills which are going through the legislative process which we should be aware of. To start, the legislature recently passed a bill where transgender kids receiving gender-affirming care can be taken away from their parents. This means parents will lose their children for providing them with the support they need. The reality is that being put in foster care is trauma. A recent study found that interactions with child welfare leads to worse outcomes for children (Evangelist et al., 2023). What this bill is doing is taking children from their loving family and putting them in danger and adding additional trauma to their lives.
A second bill being proposed is going to allow doctors and other medical providers to deny care for LGBTQ people. With rural healthcare already limited, this can create areas where LGBTQIA+ individuals are unable to live where they want because they cannot get healthcare. Of course, it is completely unethical for a doctor to not provide care for someone because of their sexual orientation or gender identity and expression. For social workers, the NASW code of ethics is quite clear about denying care: You cannot.
Both of these bills will impact nonprofit organizations. We will see more families worried about how to protect their children, how to make sure that LGBTQIA+ children and individuals are safe and getting healthcare, and nonprofits will have to be aware of what they are required to report and not to report. Each nonprofit will be different but those in Florida might want to consider what information they are/are not collecting and writing down.
Minnesota
Not everything is bad in the US. In Minnesota, a couple of bills have been passed to support transgender individuals. Specifically, they ban conversion therapy and have made themselves a haven for LGBTQIA+ youth. Conversion therapy is an oft abusive therapeutic theory that you can change someone from being either homosexual to heterosexual and/or transgender to cisgender. Instead of celebrating diversity, conversion therapy forces individuals to conform to a lifestyle. Furthermore, the “Trans Refugee Bill”, prevents transgender people coming to Minnesota for healthcare from having their medical records subpoenaed. This means that there are safe spaces for youth in Minnesota, which we need more of.
Federal Evidence Agenda on LGBTQI+ Evidence
This past January, the federal government released a report: Federal Evidence Agenda on LGBTQI+ Evidence. The purpose of this report is to explore how the federal government (and why the federal government) should collect information on LGBTQI+ individuals. This has been on my mind recently because, later this week, I will be teaching a workshop for nonprofit employees on data visualization. Having (and being able to present) good data is important and sometimes under appreciated in nonprofits due to both knowledge, time, and resources. Below are a few of the main points around what the federal government should be doing to collect data on LGBTQIA+ people and how they impact nonprofit organizations:
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) data is demographic data:
How can you know how you are serving the queer community if you don’t have demographic data on sexual orientation and gender identity. For this, you can ask simple questions such as:
Do you identify as transgender, genderqueer, and/or gender nonbinary?
Which of the following best describes your sexual orientation
Homosexual
Heterosexual
Bisexual/Pansexual
Asexual
Other
Data Collection Must Be Started Immediately: From the federal level, this is true. At the local level, you may need to be careful for a couple of reasons. First, with a growing anti-LGBTQIA+ Republican party, having data on LGBTQIA+ individuals could open up your organization for an investigation. Second, you need to make sure that you are creating an environment where respondents feel safe giving out this information. Be aware of your local environment and question how you are going to keep the data you collect secure.
SOGI data have the most utility when they are disaggregated: One of the things I have talked about quite a bit in this newsletter is the diversity of the LGBTQIA+ community. In this newsletter alone we have talked about how the lesbian, gay, and bisexual community sometimes has different needs compared to the transgender community. Understand the complexities of the different LGBTQIA+ communities can help make sure you aren’t providing a one-size-fits-all programs that only provide support for a certain portion of the community
SOGI data must be used to serve the LGBTQIA+ community: Whenever I am doing a survey, I always get asked “What are you going to do with this information” and “How will this help the queer community”. When you are collecting data about people, it should be of benefit to them.
The value of SOGI data is unlocked through analysis AND Integrate the needs of LGBTQIA+ people: As a consultant, one of the things I often am brought in to do is take data that is already collected. If you are collecting data, it should not just sit in the computer, it should be used. How can understanding your LGBTQIA+ communities lead to better supports and services?
Data is an important part of nonprofit management. Getting good data can help an organization support learn more about their constituencies and provide better services. Getting good data and using it can help your organization grow. And through these recommendations, you can think about how to better collect and use data to help your LGBTQIA+ clients and communities.