MITRE’s Response to the OSTP RFI to Help Inform Development of the Federal Evidence Agenda on LGBTQI+ Equity

What’s the issue?

Executive Order 13985 (Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government) and Executive Order 14075 (Advancing Equality for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Individuals) establish a subcommittee on sexual orientation, gender identity, and variations in sex characteristics (SOGI) data within the National Science and Technology Council. That Subcommittee is now tasked with developing a “Federal Evidence Agenda on LGBTQI+ Equity”, which will improve the Federal government's ability to make data-informed policy decisions that advance equity for the LGBTQI+ community. The Office of Science and Technology Policy issued an RFI to gather data and evidence to support the Subcommittee’s work.

What did we do?

The Center for Data-Driven Policy led a cross-MITRE analysis of the questions posed in the RFI, seeking to uncover data and evidence (from our work in the public interest) that would help the Subcommittee answer its questions and subsequently make policy decisions that are evidence-based, actionable, and will lead to their desired outcomes.

What did we find?

MITRE provided two overarching recommendations: (1) that this current thrust was in some ways in conflict with existing privacy protection policies and that these overlaps needed further research, and (2) that OSTP’s work on this topic should be integrated with broader efforts within the Federal Data Strategy. We also provided numerous data- and experienced-based insights on issues and opportunities related to SOGI data within federal activities.