Cross-post: Researchers blast US agency’s decision not to collect LGBT+ data

By Max Kozlov for Nature

Lockers in a rainbow of colours at the
NSF Ice Core Facility in Colorado.
Credit: Jim West/Alamy (nature.com)

The US National Science Foundation (NSF) has decided not to include a question about sexual orientation on one of its workforce surveys, setting off a social-media firestorm. More than 1,700 researchers have now signed an open letter urging the agency’s director to reconsider the decision. They argue that it is crucial to collect such information to understand the makeup of the scientific community and craft policies that lessen disparities for sexual minorities. 

The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES), a subdivision of the NSF, administers several surveys regularly that provide key data about the US scientific workforce to policymakers and researchers on demographics such as sex, race and ethnicity, scientific discipline and citizenship status. The NCSES has hinted for years that it was considering adding questions about sexual orientation and gender identity to its surveys, but delays have frustrated researchers. 

The decision comes as some studies have suggested that LGBT+ people are underrepresented in the sciences and face more barriers and workplace harassment than non-LGBT+ people.

Read more here.

Related:

AAS Committee for Sexual-Orientation & Gender Minorities in Astronomy (SGMA)