Giving Compass' Take:

• There is limited COVID-19 data and how it impacts the LGBTQ community because the U.S. government is not yet collecting detailed data on how this virus affects various subset populations. 

• How can donors help remedy this data gap? Why is it critical to obtain this type of granular data? 

•  Read about the data analytics in the COVID-19 response. 

A growing body of research is showing that Black people are being hit disproportionately hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, but a lack of LGBTQ-inclusive data designed to capture the experiences of people who are both racial and sexual minorities renders many of us invisible — and puts us at even greater risk of harm.

There’s growing reason to worry that the pandemic is also particularly dangerous for diverse members of the LGTBQ and same gender loving (SGL), the affirming term some members of the Black community use to define themselves, particularly if they’re older. Unfortunately, there’s no way to know for sure because the government isn’t yet collecting the kind of detailed data that would show the extent of the problem — or provide a roadmap for mitigating the risks the disease poses to LGBTQ Americans who are already marginalized, discriminated against, and otherwise punished simply for being who they are.

The limited data that we do have on the LGBTQ community offers a disturbing snapshot of the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has on our communities. For one, there’s the economic toll. Two in five LGBTQ people work in the five industries most impacted by the pandemic — food service, hospitals, K-12 education, colleges, and retail — compared to just one in five non-LGBTQ people, according to a survey from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. All told, more than 5 million LGBTQ workers in these industries could be significantly affected by the pandemic.

Read the full article about how COVID-19 impacts the LGBTQ population by David J. Johns and Earl Fowlkes at The Hill.