The U.S. Census Bureau under the Trump administration has sought permission to delete questions about gender identity from a monthly survey that gathers near real-time data about American life.
The Census Bureau two weeks ago asked the Office of Management and Budget for permission to delete questions about gender identity from the Household Trends and Outlook Pulse Survey. The agency said the Feb. 14 request was made to align with President Donald Trump’s order stripping federal money from programs that “promote gender ideology.”
Issued on the first day of Trump’s second term in January, his order calls for the federal government to define sex as only male or female and for that to be reflected on official documents such as passports and through policies such as federal prison assignments. The position conflicts with what the American Medical Association and other mainstream medical groups say: that extensive scientific research suggests sex and gender are better understood as a spectrum than by an either-or definition.
Trump has targeted transgender and nonbinary people with a series of executive orders since he returned to office. Several civil rights groups have challenged the orders in court. A federal judge in Seattle on Friday blocked most of Trump’s plan to pull federal funding from institutions that provide gender-affirming care for transgender youth, pending a final decision on the merits of the case.
The Census Bureau has had plans to ask questions about sexual identity and gender identity on the 2027 American Community Survey, the most comprehensive survey of American life. Questions about sexual orientation and gender identity started being tested in August with trial questionnaires sent out to several hundred thousand households. The Census Bureau on Monday didn’t respond to an emailed query asking about whether gender identity questions also would be deleted from the American Community Survey.
Separately, the Census Bureau has canceled the spring meeting of an advisory committee set up to provide guidance for the 2030 census, which will determine political power and federal spending in the next decade. No reason was given for the cancelation. When asked why in an email, the Census Bureau said the emailed question had been forwarded to the Department of Commerce, which oversees the bureau.
“We will provide an update as more information becomes available,” the Census Bureau said in an email to committee members on Friday.
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