In Covid Vaccine Data, L.G.B.T.Q. People Fear Invisibility

Few states collect sexual orientation or gender identity data, so no one knows how many people in some communities are getting vaccinated.

When Josie Nixon visited her health insurer’s website seeking a coronavirus vaccine, she felt invisible: On a registration form that collected personal and demographic information, the 29-year-old Denver resident had to select “other” for her gender. There was no option for “transgender woman.” Days before, Ms. Nixon had felt a sense of hope when President Biden announced his nomination of Dr. Rachel Levine, a transgender woman, to one of the nation’s top health posts and signed an executive order aimed at ameliorating Covid-19 health inequities in the country’s most vulnerable communities. But her experience was a stark reminder, she said, that the nation’s estimated 11.3 million L.G.B.T.Q. adults still have a long way to go toward reaching equity in health care and treatment in the United States.