California officials are accusing a little known panel of impeding the health of LGBTQ Americans. In a letter sent Thursday to the co-chairs of the Public Health Work Group, Dr.
Mark Ghaly, the secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, and gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) implored the panel to "take immediate steps" to address issues that are hampering efforts in California and other states to collect sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) data in health settings.
The issue has taken on greater import over the last year due to the COVID pandemic, as the lack of SOGI data on people testing positive for the novel coronavirus has made it impossible to know how widespread infections have been in the