On October 7, Governor Brown signed the LGBT Disparities Reduction Act that requires four state agencies to collect voluntary self-reported demographic information on sexual orientation and gender identity. This bill is poised to usher in a new era of improved services and smarter policy to address the health and well being of all LGBT Californians. Assemblyman Chiu, the bill’s author, said, “After years of being left out of statewide demographic data, LGBT individuals will now be able to share their experiences to provide much-needed data to understand, and ultimately reduce, long standing health disparities that have disproportionately impacted these communities.”
The passage of this bill was never taken for granted. The Governor had vetoed similar legislation in 2013—due to the cost of updating the computer systems of the identified state agencies. Assemblyman Chiu’s office reached out to LGBT activists and worked closely with them. It was an honor to be part of this effort. Equality California, the bill’s sponsor, ran a statewide campaign that alone resulted in over 5000 postcards in support of the bill. Thanks to Assemblyman Chiu, Equality California, and each and every one of you who sent in a postcard, letter, email and or fax, we were able to persuade the Governor to sign the bill and make the lives of LGBT Californians visible!
The new law requires not only the collection of data by the departments of Health Care Services, Public Health, Social Services and Aging, but also requires the aggregation of sexual orientation and gender identity data, which are indicators of health disparities. They must also make this information available to the public. The passing of this legislation is a watershed moment: For the first time in history, those of us who craft LGBT health policy and deliver LGBT services will be given the means to truly improve, in the most effective way possible, our community’s health as we age.
It is only in the last few years, with the recent gains in LGBT civil rights, such as same sex marriage, that LGBT activists nationwide have moved from fear (that such data would be used to discriminate against LGBT people) to understanding how much we stood to benefit from having a more precise picture of health disparities and service needs of our LGBT communities, as well as having greater access to public and private funding to address those issues.
The San Francisco LGBT Aging Policy Task in its final report, LGBT Aging at the Golden Gate: San Francisco Policy Issues & Recommendations, March 2014, identified the lack of data on sexual orientation and gender identity as a key barrier to under standing the service needs of not only LGBT seniors, but also all LGBT San Franciscans. The task force discovered early on in its tenure that San Francisco had little information on LGBT seniors and LGBT older adults, and commissioned a two-part study, as well as a series of focus groups in order to make recommendations based on actual data, rather than on estimates. Under the leadership of Chair Bill Ambrunn, the first recommendation voted by the task force was that the city should begin a policy of data collection citywide in all of its departments. In a Board of Supervisor’sCommittee meeting in April 2014, Ashley McCumber, the Executive Director of Meals on Wheels of San Francisco Inc., and a member of the task force’s research team, cited data collection as one of the most critical recommendations the city needs to address.
The time has come for the city to take this important step forward. Supervisor Wiener is taking the lead in spearheading city legislation on this issue. Let’s support him in making visible the lives of LGBT San Franciscans.
Marcy Adelman, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist
in private practice, is co-founder of the non-profit organization Openhouse and was a leading member of the San Francisco LGBT Aging Policy Task Force.
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