The 2021 Census Won’t Have Questions About Sexuality or Gender Identity

The news is concerning to LGBTIQA+ advocacy groups.

Every five years, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) counts every person and every household in Australia to gather information and statistics on age, country of birth, religion, languages, education, work and ancestry.

In case you’ve only had your parents participate for you in the past, The Census is a super important survey that helps the Aussie government make decisions about healthcare, transport, schools, business and infrastructure. It also helps governments plan and develop local services so that communities, families and individuals can benefit and live better lives.

In August this year, every Aussie around the country (including children and babies) will be counted in The Census once again, so it’s super important that you participate or get your parents to fill out your documentation for you.

You'll get instructions in early August on what to do.

— Australian Bureau of Statistics (@ABSStats) June 28, 2021

This year however, some important and requested topics won’t be included in the survey.

In particular, questions about sexuality, gender identity, sex characteristics, Indigenous cultural identity and other specific topics about education and family won’t be included.

Essentially, since the 2018 census, the ABS began asking the public which questions should be added in the next Census. After asking, they received over 450 submissions and narrowed the topics in consideration down to just seven.

Questions about military service and health got the go ahead to be included, but the others didn’t quite make the cut, which has concerned LGBTIQA+ advocacy groups and communities.

Except if you are LGBTIQA+, the Australian Census doesn’t tell our story #CountUsIn2021

When will the @ABSStats have an LGBTIQ+ enumeration and engagement strategy, will it be 2026? pic.twitter.com/vTnbujFhjl

— Joe Ball (@Joe_c_Ball) July 11, 2021

Equality Australia chief executive Anna Brown told the ABC that the lack of representation in The Census could impact the needs of LGBTIQA+ communities.

"It's absolutely vital that we collect data on our communities, because otherwise the government can't plan our programs and services that meet our needs," she said.

"Unless we're counted, we're invisible."

Am I correct in my understanding that there is still no questions on the census relating to LGBTIQ+ people? That means we remain invisible for another 5 years.#census #LGBTIQ #australiasucks

— Simon Simon Simon (@simmo_dwyer) July 13, 2021

Unfortunately, there isn’t currently a lot of data being collected about LGBTIQA+ people and communities in Australia. In fact, when the documents for this topic in The Census were put forward to the Senate, the ABS noted that the topic had “no alternative data source,” meaning it met high criteria to be included.

It also found that data collected by LGBTIQA+ organisations were “inconsistent,” “narrow in scope,” or lacked a large enough sample size.

For gender identity, the ABS acknowledged that questions on the topic would "address the health needs of people who identify as a non-binary sex or gender, or those who are bodily diverse."

Despite this, the ABS decided this still wasn’t enough reason for either topic to be included.

#EveryStatTellsAStory #Census2021 ad campaign - nice concept, but it seems there are many important stories that are not welcome currently in our national story… many Australians who would want to tell their LGBTIQ+ stories through the Census, still won’t be able to in Australia pic.twitter.com/rT5Mgy16eM

— Steven Pidgeon (he/they) (@StevenPidgeon7) July 8, 2021

Idk about you, but a complete lack of data collection on some really big and diverse groups seems like a pretty important reason to be included to me.

In late 2019, a group of health and wellbeing organisations issued a group statement calling on the ABS to include data on sexuality and gender identity.

Their statement was endorsed by the National LGBTI Health Alliance, Suicide Prevention Australia, Rainbow Health Victoria, the Kirby Institute, Dementia Australia, the Cancer Council, ACOSS, the Butterfly Foundation, Jean Hailes For Womens Health, Palliative Care Australia, IHRA, the Australian College of Mental Health Nurses, Disability Employment Australia, Everymind, Connect Groups, Shelter WA, The Pinnacle Foundation, AFAO, The Equality Project, Consumers Health Forum of Australia, Mental Health Australia, and the Black Dog Institute.

“The current exclusion of appropriate sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status questions in The Census means that clear demographic data of the Australian population is not being captured,” the groups stated.

“Asking appropriate questions on sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status in The Census is crucial in fostering an evidence-informed environment for health and economic policy service planning and understanding health and social service utilisation.

“This is essential in addressing the significant health disparities that LGBTI people experience.”

●AUSTRALIA
‘The Australian Bureau of Statistics has announced the 2021 census will not include any questions about people’s sexuality and gender identity, a move which has drawn criticism for health organisations and LGBTI rights advocacy groups.’ https://t.co/tL2emluxyh

— TransValid (@TransValid) October 7, 2019

On top of that, the ABS has also decided to bump a question about household internet access ‘cos tbh, most people use 4G and smartphones to access the internet nowadays.

They’re also not planning on asking Aussies how the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted our lives last year. These are the first changes since 2006.

The Census will be held on Tuesday 10 August, which you can complete online or by using the paper that is delivered to your door.

Header Image: Australian Bureau of Statistics