Earlier today, the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research hosted a webinar to look at the current state of available data on sexual orientation and gender identity and how the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) has played a key role in improving collection of this data.
The event, The Importance of CHIS in LGBT Research and Data Collection, featured a presentation by Gary Gates, the Blachford-Cooper Distinguished Scholar and research director at the UCLA Williams Institute. Dr. Gates focused on how CHIS, a comprehensive population-based health survey, has been collecting sexual orientation over the past decade. Over that time span, Dr. Gates said, public perception has been shifting and many states have passed legislation legalizing same-sex marriage and other benefits. The demographic data available through CHIS shows the impact of this shift in public perception, and Dr. Gates expressed excitement about continued improvement in the future, particularly in regards to gender identity data.
Dr. Gates highlighted some specific trends over the past decade by looking at a variety of demographic data, including age, income, and race/ethnicity. He found that younger people and people of color are identifying as lesbian, gay, or bisexual at a higher rate than they were 10 years ago and that this is likely the result of changing societal perceptions.