New laws targeting LGBTQ+ people are proliferating in GOP-led states, but often absent from policy decisions is a clear understanding of how many people will be directly affected. There has been relatively little data collected on the number of LGBTQ+ residents in the U.S. That means lawmakers are often writing laws without the same kind of baseline information they might have for other demographic groups. Legislative decisions to ban transgender women and girls from playing school sports often fail to consider the impact on intersex students. Conversations about gender-affirming care bans were at times clouded by a discredited 2018 study that claimed kids might experience gender dysphoria because of peer influence. This led to erroneous suggestions that the number of trans people was inflated. Not all intersex people are identified at birth. There are more than 13 million people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender in the U.S. ages 13 and older. The U.S. Census did not add questions about sexual orientation and gender identity until 2021. Efforts to quantify the number of LGBTQ+ people, including intersex people, in the U.S. were scarce until the last few decades, and stigma prevented some from disclosing their identities. There is some overlap between the groups; intersex people are included in the plus sign in the LGBTQ+ acronym, and some intersex people also identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or queer. #Trans Rights