CDC Youth Tobacco Survey asks about the 'gender identity' and 'sexual orientation' of middle and high school students

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Tobacco Youth Survey includes questions regarding gender identity and sexual orientation that the government agency justifies in part by claiming "transgender youth have a disproportionate burden of tobacco use related behaviors."

The survey is distributed annually and aimed at garnering national data about the attitudes and behaviors of middle and high school students toward tobacco, the CDC said. It also seeks to provide information about what "pro- and anti-tobacco influences" the children have in their lives.

However, in 2020, the survey was changed to include questions about students' sexuality and gender identity, Just the News reported. Documents obtained from the White House Office of Management and Budget showed the justification used for the questions.

A sexual orientation question is justified by the CDC by simply saying the agency has been "using this question since 2015" and "would prefer to maintain this question as is to allow greater comparability in this measure across NYTS survey years." No other reasoning was given.

For a gender identity question, the CDC's justification was that "transgender youth have a disproportionate burden of tobacco use related behaviors."

The 2023 survey indeed includes such questions, buried all the way down at questions 143-144 of 150:

"Sexual orientation is a person’s emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attraction to another person," the survey for children noted. "There are many pas [sic] a person can describe their sexual orientation and many labels a person can use. Which of these options best describes your sexual orientation?" it asked.

Possible answers included "straight or heterosexual," "gay or lesbian," "bisexual, pansexual, or queer," "asexual," "I am not sure," "I don't know what this question means," and "decline to answer."

In regard to gender identity, the alleged tobacco survey then said that "some people describe themselves as transgender and/or nonbinary when the way they think or feel about their gender is different from their sex assigned at birth."

"Do you identify as transgender and/or nonbinary?" the survey asked.

Possible responses for the children to use included:

A. No, I am not transgender and/or nonbinary
B: Yes, I am transgender and/or nonbinary
C. I am not sure yet or questioning if I am transgender and/or nonbinary
D. I do not know what this question is asking
E. Decline to answer

Further documentation noted that in February 2022 the CDC made a “Non-Substantive change request” to the OMB to update existing questions. This included "questions/answer choices on sexual orientation and gender identity (including non-binary)."

Despite the strange line of questioning, the CDC insisted in the document that "all newly proposed questions are essential to maintain relevance with emerging tobacco products, behaviors, attitudes, and policies."

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