In a series of unpublicized revisions last month, the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics has removed all references to gender or gender identity from at least four federal surveys, The Appeal has confirmed. Experts say these changes will make it nearly impossible to monitor crimes and other forms of violence experienced by trans people.
Federal data on trans people is critical because surveys on minority groups require large sample sizes to be accurate. The four newly modified surveys sample hundreds of thousands of respondents each year. Private organizations don’t have the resources to collect data at that scale.
“The removal of sexual orientation and gender identity questions from federal surveys is devastating to our understanding of LGBT populations’ health and wellbeing,” Ilan Meyer, senior scholar for public policy and sexual orientation law at the Williams Institute of UCLA, told The Appeal via email. “Such data is important for setting policy goals for interventions. The removal of sexual orientation and gender identity data will leave policymakers, researchers, and advocates with no valid information on the victimization of LGBT people.”
The DOJ did not respond to a request for comment
Does this make “be gay, do crime” easier or harder now?
Harder. It means being othered; whatever happens in retaliation is not punished.
One step closer to just erasing trans people.
Yep. It’s what the Nazis did. Label them not as human (Cockroach / insects) so exterminating them is not killing humans
I think we’ve lost sight of what the role of government is or should be. Though, to be fair, I’m not sure it’s been agreed upon.
Isn’t the role of government to provide protection / prevent harm? To create a space for fair opportunity and to level the playing field and adjust for injustices?
I mean, just because you don’t like someone or something or something makes you uncomfortable or doesn’t align with your beliefs doesn’t mean that thing doesn’t exist nor should the government be in charge of abolishing it. In fact, if you have such strong opinions about something, it’s very likely that this is something the government should be protecting from you.
I just don’t think this is a liberal or conservative claim. It should be a universal fact that’s applied to all. And, I think, any government or politician who fails to protect a single person should be removed from the job they’ve shown they’re not capable of performing.
I guess we’ve given up on holding our politicians accountable and transferred any power we had to the oligarchs and corporations.
I agree that that is what society and government should be for.
Reactionaries, on the other hand, have a completely different set of values that is incompatible with a free society. They see the role of government as instituting a heirarchy with themselves at the top.
The recent attacks on DEI are a clear example of their insistence on hierarchies with the “proper” people sorted to the top. They believe that all of society’s problems are due to leftists upsetting the pyramid.
They don’t think they’ll need protection, because the government works for them, since they imagine themselves at the top.
I guess we’ve given up on holding our politicians accountable and transferred any power we had to the oligarchs and corporations.
That is exactly what we’re doing. And it’s probably already too late to get it back without utilizing our 2nd amendment right. Arm up.
Government manages society by making the daily lives of people better. Life, liberty, livable wage, and all that jazz.
So far the GOP is 0 for 3.
I think that’s up for debate. There are people who don’t want government involved in their daily lives. These - livable wage and such - are nice things to have but aren’t the core responsibility of any and all governments. I don’t think “manages society” is the right phrasing either. And FWIW, “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” is not in the US constitution so there is no legal requirement for the US government to provide this. The DoI also said all men are created equal then they went on to say black men are worth less than white men.
I think a responsible representative government would weigh the realities of contemporary society and make adjustments to adjust for injustices and inequalities. They may also take larger things into consideration such as why a business determines to operate in one country or another and offer subsidies that promote job creation (rather than inflationary tariffs). I mean, there’s a lot and I don’t want to get into everything here.
My point is, what’s the role of not just the US government, not just a federal or national government, but any and all government - other than “to govern”? I would argue it’s preventative harm reduction.
When the first version of government was created, was it to make the daily lives of people better or was it to provide protection for those who couldn’t protect themselves? Not rhetorical. We all need to agree that point 1 is XYZ. Then we can get one with discussing things like livable wage, social security, health care, education, etc. Actually, on paper, I think the concept of the US is fantastic. A core government that covers broad universal functions while each regional division can focus on its own. The issue from here is that state boundaries are, for all intents and purposes, irrelevant today.
My other point, to bring it back to this story, is the the role of government should not be to pretend groups of people do not exist, hide them in the shadows, and ignore the atrocities others are inflicting upon them - our be the one committing those atrocities. So, if we start there with a solid idealogical foundation, we can more easily observe said atrocities and hold elected officials accountable. Universally, outside of party affiliation.
Then, once a foundation is agreed upon without any argument, we can move on to things that have nuance and are worthy of debating details and directions.
I just don’t think we’ve reached step one yet. Perhaps because a lot of people are very, and rightfully, concerned about steps two through a million.
Tonight on “Hey, That’s What The Nazis Did”.
I look forward to erasing MAGAts as well.
Arm up.
Everything Trump and his enablers are doing indicate they are not planning on giving up power.
No one’s coming to save us.
Buy guns and ammo.
Republicans solutions are either smash with force or ignore the issue and deny it’s existence.
I’m assuming this also applies to women, so does this solve our domestic abuse problem now that we can’t prove overwhelmingly it’s men beating and killing women?
Time to put on a dress when committing a felony.
/s
I saw the /s but just for clarification:
This is more about tracking hate crimes against trans people.
I think musk would probably have an issue with the erasure of people’s data. America is a zoo with no cages.
