(CNN) -- Federal surveys like the U.S. Census are gradually taking their transgender respondents into account. But they rarely ask specific questions unique to trans life: Have they been denied access to reproductive health care?
Is their life better than it was before they came out as trans?Enter the U.S. Trans Survey, the largest survey in the country specifically geared toward trans and nonbinary people.
Conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), its results will be quoted by journalists, academics and legislators for the next five years.The survey is especially important now, given the intense focus on the rights of trans Americans in political arenas.
Trans residents of the U.S. remain an understudied population that represents half a percent of all Americans -- there are an estimated 1.6 million trans people 13 and older living in the U.S., according to the Williams Institute, UCLA Law's LGBTQ+ think tank -- but continue to be targeted by lawmakers."This is the kind of data our community is desperate for, fighting against bigotry that trans people have to endure," said Josie Caballero, the director of the U.S.