Back in the day (I mean really back in the day), when I was a young professor at Brown University, there were hardly any women professors. On a faculty of about 400 only four or five had tenure. Those of us who were there wanted to make the case that Brown should hire and promote more women, but Brown did not keep track of such things. There might be five (or maybe it was 20?), and rumor had it that there were none in the Physics Department and quite a few in English. Who knew? To find out we counted by hand. Each year one of the only women administrators had her secretary call each department secretary and ask them if they had any women working there, and if so what were their names. Gradually we gathered data and presented it to the administration. Then came a civil rights lawsuit, and our data got some traction. In the end by law Brown had to start keeping track of who they hired and to explain why they had so few women and people of color. And hiring patterns changed for the better. That my friends, was an early DEI moment. May it always be so.
Since Donald Trump has taken office and taken aim at diversity and equity research, and at science that concerns the health and welfare status of the LGBTQIA+ community, grant after grant has been canceled (see https://grant-witness.us/ ) and painstakingly accumulated research databases (https://www.statnews.com/2025/01/31/cdc-removes-data-on-sexual-orientation-gender-identity-from-website/) have been deleted from government websites. The lesson of erasure is the same one I learned at Brown —if there are no data, there is no problem. But if you have the receipts then something must be done.
Now I am proud to facilitate the announcement of a new effort to keep the data coming. LGBTQ scientists are taking measures, and I am happy to host the announcement of one grass roots effort to keep collecting data, federal grants be damned. Scientists Lisa Diamond and Scout want to hear from you. Here they are, in their own words. Please take their survey and spread the word as far and wide as possible.
--Anne Fausto Sterling, November 22, 2025
DON’T LET THIS MOMENT BE ERASED
By Lisa M. Diamond, Ph.D. University of Utah
Scout, Ph.D., The Cancer Network
Everyone connected to the LGBTQIA+ community – including their loved ones and those who work with LGBTQIA+ communities – has been affected by what has happened this terrible year. But because of the defunding of LGBTQIA+ health research and the elimination of sexual/gender identity questions from federal health surveys, our ability to TRACK what is happening has been cut off at the knees.
We can’t let this happen. So some of us have joined forces to launch a completely unfunded, all-volunteer, hand-to-hand effort to measure the specific mental and physical health effects of the past year, on everyone connected to LGBTQIA+ communities.
We’re asking you to take this short, 25 min survey, share it with your family and friends (our IRB approval includes YOUTH!), and share it with your colleagues. It’s open to LGBTQIA+ folks, their loved ones, and anyone whose work involves these communities. And it’s open to YOUTH as well as adults.
We have partnered with a variety of state and national organizations to GIVE them the findings for their local communities by February 1, so they can use these data in their 2026 advocacy. By taking this survey, you are helping to represent the needs of your OWN local community.
A unique aspect of the survey is its inclusion of “the workforce” – health care providers, therapists, advocates, teachers, researchers, day care providers, social workers, etc -- anyone whose life intersects with the LGBTQIA+ community. We want to show the full scope of the impact. If you have connections to professional organizations that serve the LGBTQIA+ community, PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH THEM!!!
Here’s a downloadable FLYER with a QR code for posting, sharing on social media, etc.
We’re doing everything we can to get the word out, but it’s hard without funding. If you’d like to help us purchase ads to boost our reach, click the link below to donate funds for this purpose (the National LGBTQIA+ Cancer Network is hosting this effort, and they are a nonprofit, so any donations are tax-deductable). DONATE TODAY
But most important, TAKE THE SURVEY YOURSELF and pass it on.
If you’d like more background on why we’re doing this, and why this moment is so critical, here’s a recent podcast interview where we discuss the study, and why it’s so important to make sure this moment in history does not get erased.
In love and solidarity,
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