Census data exclude vulnerable Americans

The census data excludes a lot of vulnerable people. As a transgender non-binary person, I tried repeatedly last year to submit an accurate response to the census survey. I called in multiple times, I sent emails, and when I couldn’t get a paper form to fill out I printed a sample form and wrote in my answers. But I never received a confirmation of my submissions, and every time I spoke with someone in the census bureau (call center workers, managers, and regional managers alike), they told me they couldn’t accept my accurate response to their question about my sex or gender. They told me I had to select a binary response to the sex or gender question. When I said that would be inaccurate, they asked if I was refusing to answer the question. “No, I’m not refusing,” I would say, “I’m attempting to accurately respond to the question. I am not male or female, I am non-binary.” Invariably, they would reply that the system they were using to record responses did not allow for that possibility. As a result, I believe my response was left out of the census. And I’m certain I’m not alone. A significant number of Americans exist outside the male-female binary, and the census data exclude us. (And we’re not the only ones; I’m aware of related concerns about the exclusion of many other vulnerable groups.) When the Congress directed the Census Bureau to collect this data in accordance with the Constitution, I’m sure they did not envision excluding us — not the non-binary people, not the indigenous people, not the disabled people, nor any of the many other vulnerable populations whose access to services depends on accurate census data. The census data are not, as the director claims, high-quality, and they are not fit for use in redistricting, nor for so many other purposes to which they would be put.