Why Is It More Important Than Ever for LGBTQ Voices to Speak Up and Be Counted?
LGBTQIA+ voices need to be counted now because fewer public surveys are collecting data about our lives. The 2026 Shine the Light survey, now open in its fourth year, is one of the few independent studies built to capture what work is really like for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA+) employees and job seekers.
Your answers shape the resources Be The Transformational Change Fund offers and give employers evidence they can act on. The more people who take part, the harder those experiences are to overlook.
The survey is open now and takes about 6 to 8 minutes. Take the 2026 Shine the Light survey today.
What has changed about LGBTQ data?
Public data about LGBTQIA+ people is shrinking. According to the Williams Institute at UCLA, about 360 federal data collections removed at least one sexual orientation or gender identity question after January 20, 2025. Of those, 338 removed the option to report gender identity.
When a question disappears from a survey, the people it described do not disappear. Their experiences just get harder to see, measure, and address.Independent, community-led research helps fill that gap.
What is the Shine the Light survey?
It is a yearly survey about what work is really like for LGBTQIA+ people in the United States. It asks about comfort being out at work, how you dress and express your gender, whether you feel safe raising concerns with leadership, gender-affirming health benefits, employee resource groups, pronouns, and the job search resources you actually need.
The answers become the Shine the Light Study. The full report and an executive summary are free on the Shine the Light page, written for LGBTQIA+ professionals and for employers who want to build better workplaces.
The study has grown every year. It started with 580 respondents, reached 914 the next year, and the 2025 Shine the Light Study heard from 1,386 people across the country. That is more than double the first year.
What did last year's results show?
The short answer is real progress, with clear gaps that remain. The 2025 Shine the Light Study found:
74% of respondents feel their workplace supports LGBTQIA+ employees
62% are openly out at work
34% strongly agree they feel comfortable bringing LGBTQIA+ concerns to leadership
18% strongly agree they have experienced workplace discrimination based on their identity
43% of transgender respondents strongly agree they can use the restroom that matches their gender identity
The averages only tell part of the story. Nonbinary respondents were the least likely to say they could use a restroom that matched their identity, a gap we explored in why nonbinary employees are the least likely to feel safe at work. Findings like that only surface when enough people in a group take part.
Does my voice really make a difference?
Yes! Every added response makes it easier to look closely at smaller groups, such as trans, nonbinary, and gender non-conforming people, whose experiences can get lost inside a larger total.
Your answers also tell us what to build. Salary negotiation has been the most-requested career resource three years running, ahead of interview prep and mentorship. If that is on your list too, Negotiate Your Narrative is a free salary negotiation course, and OutShine is a free AI interview coach you can practice with anytime.
Our guide on the LGBTQIA+ wage gap and who it hits hardest shows why that request keeps coming up.
Who should take the survey?
The survey is built for LGBTQIA+ employees and job seekers in the United States. Past studies included people working in nonprofits, private companies, and government, so it is not limited to one industry or job type.
You do not need to be out at work to take part. Some people are out to a few coworkers and not others, and some are not out at all. That range is exactly what the study is trying to understand.
If you are looking for work right now, your experience matters too. The job search is where many people first decide how much of themselves to share, and our guide to finding an LGBTQ+ friendly employer before you apply covers what to look for along the way.
Is it safe to share my experience?
Yes. Participation is voluntary, you can skip any question you would rather not answer, and all responses are confidential. Results are only reported in aggregate, as combined totals rather than individual answers.
It is okay to take your time with the questions. Some may bring up hard memories, especially around discrimination. If something at work is happening to you now, our guide on what to do if you are being discriminated against at work walks through your options, and our Community Resources directory lists places to find support.
How else can I help?
Share the survey. Send it to friends, your employee resource group, or the group chat. Allies can help by passing it along to the LGBTQIA+ people in their lives, since the study can only reflect the people who hear about it.
Volunteering is a great opportunity to help shape research like this from the inside. Fifteen volunteers, including advisory group members and focus group participants, helped shape the 2025 study.
Your voice belongs in the data
There is no right or wrong way to feel about your workplace, and no experience is too ordinary to count. Supported, struggling, or somewhere in between, your answers help build a clearer picture of LGBTQIA+ working life, and clearer pictures lead to better workplaces.
The survey is open now. Take the 2026 Shine the Light survey today while it is on your mind, then pass it to one person who should take it too.
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