I worked on the project #Transneeds, which aimed to assess how government and society could better incorporate transgender issues.
The hashtag campaign stemmed from a conversation at the 2015 White House LGBT Tech Summit concerning the lack of data regarding the trans community. Words from BuzzFeed's Article.
The White House hosted an LGBTQ Tech summit last month to discuss how the federal government can better address the needs of the transgender community. It was from this meeting that the #TransNeeds twitter campaign was born.
“The effort really began with a casual conversation I had in June with DJ Patil, the U.S. Chief Data Scientist,” Ina Fried, a trans journalist and participant in the White House LGBT Tech Summit, told Buzzfeed.
“He’s working on all kinds of initiatives like precision medicine that depend on accurate data and I pointed out how little data of any kind exists about trans people.”“Indeed, because trans people are largely not acknowledged, our information often shows up in medical data as anomalies, such as when a transgender man tries to get a mammogram,” she added.
The volunteer-run group created a Twitter handle based on the hashtag in hopes of discovering how the federal government can better serve transgender community.
In addition to the Twitter handle, a text-only phone line has been established: (844) TRNS NDS or (844) 876-7637.
Now others are lending their voices, commenting on the need for safe restrooms, non-discrimination laws, and more inclusive healthcare.
The findings will be reported back to both the Office of Public Engagement and the Office of Science and Technology Policy with recommendations for further study.
“Our project will produce a report that will include a data analysis of the social media listening campaign as well as recommendations on actions the government could take,”