The U.S. Census Bureau apparently has abandoned plans to count LGBTQ Americans in the 2020 Census. Census officials submitted to Congress a list of topics it plans to cover in the decennial survey that dashes hopes of the LGBTQ that the federal government would obtain a clearer picture of what it looks like.

The Associated Press reported “sexual orientation and gender identity” initially was listed as one of the topics in an online draft posted Tuesday but later was removed. The questions have not appeared on earlier Census surveys but past censuses have offered the option of identifying whether a household involved a same-sex relationship.

Read: Census Bureau Moves To Add Middle Eastern, Latino Categories To Surveys

Gay rights groups had hoped more specific questions would be included in 2020.

“This topic is not being proposed to Congress for the 2020 Census or American Community Survey,
Census said in a statement. “The report has been corrected.”

The departments of Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development and Justice had asked for the topic to be included.

Read: More LGBT Americans Self-Identifying As Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay Or Transgender

Meghan Maury, director of the Criminal and Economic Justice Project at the National LGBTQ Task Force, said in a statement oversight will hamstring those agencies when it comes to making “the right choices about how to allocate … resources if they don’t have a sense of what the LGBTQ community looks like.” She called the decision to leave the questions out a missed “opportunity to serve the federal agencies and the American people.

Gay rights groups have been critical of the Trump administration for rescinding bathroom privileges for transgender students who wanted to use the school bathroom corresponding to their gender identity. The Human Rights Campaign now wants to know whether the White House pressured Census to drop the sexual orientation and gender identity questions, and has submitted a Freedom of Information request.

GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis labeled the Census decision a "systematic effort on behalf of the Trump administration to erase LGBT people."

Maury noted both HUD and HHS have eliminated sexual orientation and general identity questions in their surveys in recent weeks.

The Census Bureau sends out two types of forms. Most homes receive the short form, which asks for age, gender, ethnicity and marital status, along with a few other questions. The longer form goes to a few households and asks about everything from utility costs to condominium fees.

The Census has been conducted every 10 years since 1790.

RELATED STORIES