Creating LGBTQIA+ Inclusive Forms

Prioritizing inclusivity within your forms is crucial to ensuring a respondents’ safe and affirming experience with your research/survey/organization. Please refer below to our model form and follow these practices for creating an inclusive form:

1. Only ask what is relevant to your research/purpose/survey. Ask yourself, “Once I have this information, what purpose does it serve? What am I doing with this information?” If you are not sure information – such as legal sex/sex assigned at birth, sexual/romantic orientation, or gender – is necessary, consider limiting your request to the respondents’ pronouns.
2. Take care to consider how you will protect the anonymity or privacy of the respondent. Especially if asking for potentially sensitive information, prioritize the respondent’s privacy as much as possible.
3. Be transparent. Explain the purpose and usage of the information you are collecting as well as how you will protect the respondents’ privacy clearly to the respondent to ensure an affirming and safe experience with your form and organization.
4. Ensure that respondents have the option to not respond. Set questions as optional or add a “prefer not to say” option.
5. Ensure that respondents have the option to write in their own pronouns or identity. Additionally, listing a wide variety of answers is the best way to be inclusive to respondents’ diversity and receive the most accurate responses.
6. Allow respondents to select all identities that apply. Respondents may identify with multiple gender, sexual, or romantic identities. For example, a respondent may identify as both transgender and non-binary.

Please find our model LGBTQIA+ inclusive form below.