2021 Census, sexuality

Dont know if this thread probably will be allowed but it was a private census and our identities are hidden on this forum.
When filling out the 2021 census it was quite telling how there was more about sexuality.
On that my FBF was surprised when I put myself down as Bi as she’s the only person who knows, she thought I’d put straight! I wasn’t going to hide my sexuality and don’t understand why she’d think I would.
Was this just me? XxX

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I put mine down as bi too. I’m in a heterosexual relationship and have never had a female partner since my husband is the only partner I’ve had, but I feel that identifying as bi is really important to me. It’s who I am and I don’t want to hide it. I also want make sure that the statistics are true so that there is better knowledge and understanding of the sexual orientations and gender identities of our population. The census helps to understand the needs of the population and how resources should be allocated so it is important information for planing over the next decade.

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Lol I’ve still not read the census questions yet but never understood why the government are so nosey into our private lives. Guess it wouldn’t matter on some parts of you told the truth or not as at end of the day it’s not any their business to know what sexual orientation we all are.

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I did this online and ticked the ? help. Apparently the question is required so that the local government can provide better targeted facilities/services to the local community so I’ll be interested to see how things change

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It is weird isn’t it how there can be a difference between what you tell actual people and what you put on a form. I haven’t always been out out at work but I have never been worried about putting both non-binary and bisexual on things for work, or on the census.

As others have said, it’s important to do the Census accurately (as long as it’s safe to do so), because it’s used to help plan funding and services as well as being a super interesting way of seeing how society changes over time. Whodathunk they would even ask about gender identity a decade ago?!? (Although I am still bitter that that question only shows up if you’re an adult but that’s another vent post)

So get it done @AJSTAR :rofl: honestly they don’t care about your sexuality or gender identity, but knowing what the population looks like might help other people who are similar to you get the support they need when they need it.

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So if you put Bi down , I wonder exactly what they are going to fund different ?

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It’s amazing how many people think “there is only ever one gay in the village, and non in ours” . When it got out at work the woman who went running to my boss to tell, said I don’t know why you would want choose to be gay anyway, like what the! And then came out with it’s not natural, when I said how do you know that, she said well god wouldn’t have made you like that, because if he had, there would be a lot of you in the country ! They do say that ignorance is bliss!

Maybe it’s time some people found out just how many “different” people there are living in this country.

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So true! I saw a program that was pointing out bisexuality is a hidden sexuality in the fact that if your a man with a man its presumed your gay or if your a man with a woman your obviously straight!! Apart from shouting it out most people won’t know if your actually bisexual! Think it’s why others are so shocked when you come out as bisexual as they always say they never knew!! It was definitely that way with my FBF, for her I was the last person she thought would be bisexual but then admitted when she looked back at our friendship and things we shared it was so obvious as all the signs were there. Like I said to her it’s not something you shout out as it’s still so misunderstood!! XxX

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When I filled in my census form, I was INCANDESCENT with rage to find that, before you get to any questions about sexuality or gender identity, you have to answer this one about your physical sex: “Are you MALE or FEMALE?”

This question makes no provision at all for Intersex people - i.e. those who are physically neither exactly one sex or the other. It’s 20 bloody 21 folks , and still the Office of National Statistics apparently can’t get their head around this.

Later in the census form there is facility for a person to declare themself as Intersex, but - bizarrely - it’s under the “Gender Identity” section of the form. WTF??? Intersex is NOT a gender identity - it’s a physical state!

So, in order to obey the law and carry out their civic duty by filling out this year’s census, an Intersex person has to tell a whopping lie about their physical existence, and effectively render themself invisible for another 10 years. :rage:

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@PleasureDrone Must admit I didn’t get this! I identify myself as male but thanks to the LH forum I’m more than aware there are so many genders that that question just seems to have glossed over!! It seemed to imply Gender and Sexuality were the same when it said something along the lines off “don’t worry they’ll be more questions about sexuality later” They totally got that one wrong!!

I’m always a little bit hesitant disclosing my sexuality in official documents because of queer history. You can never be absolutely certain you want the government having it on record that you are lgbt. It’s good to be honest because it could help funding go to lgbt causes, but I also understand why people would lie about this particular question.

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My gran has issues with screens so i had to fill in her census for her and some of those questions are weird, inappropriate and completely pointless. She’s been retired for decades, why on earth do they need to know what her last job was? (They wanted quite a bit of detail too, not just a title).

But yeah questions such as the sex 1 are not done correctly (as said above there are lots of physical sexes that are kind of inbetween the major 2. Also, i wonder what you would have to put if post-op trans?) and others like the sexuality 1 seem incredibly invasive (since i don’t think my area has ever run a single lgbt event so definitely aren’t funding any)

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I was quite surprised / disappointed at the limited range of ‘non straight’ options there were, given all the hype about inclusion of a a question on this topic. I was tempted to chose Bi just to be in an analysable category but picked Other (Pan) as that felt more comfortable

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What options were included? I didn’t pay much attention to the specific options available there (it was not a topic i wanted to linger on regarding my gran)

I put bi although I have not had sex with any gender identification and certainly wouldn’t exclude non-binary, trans or any other identity, maybe pan would have been more appropriate but there we are.

As well as funding I guess it’s also important to be honest in terms of perhaps in the future, when there is an issue that affects the LGBT+ community those in power may look at the numbers and think hang on this is xx% of the population, maybe we should listen cos of ya know votes!

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Can’t remember off hand Ace, sorry, but I understand the LGBT community support this initiative and it will probably evolve based on feedback - the census is quite good on this. Rather than being intrusive, I found it liberating not to have to tick ‘stone age man’ but I can appreciate the frustrations of being required to select male / female in the previous question without even an ‘other’ box

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The options included were:
Straight or Heterosexual
Gay or Lesbian
Bisexual
Other sexual orientation (and a box to write it in)

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Haha yes I’ll get on the filling it out this week :sweat_smile:

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@AJSTAR I wouldn’t class the census as nosy, as such. The government probably gets more information on us from our smart phones and gadgets!

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That’s a very good point! Especially now most gadgets can track our every movement :scream: