The census goes transgender …with questions on sex change

THE national census is set to ask every family in England and Wales whether there is a transgender person living in their home.

The question, likely to be included in the compulsory questionnaire that will be sent to more than 24million homes in early 2021, will mark the first official attempt to count people who say they were born in the wrong sex.

Whitehall statisticians who are designing the ten-yearly national headcount believe they can ask a transgender question and also meet the need to count the number of people who were born male or female.

As a result, the census is likely to have a question on people’s sex at birth, and then another question on how they see their gender identity.

Trials run by the Office for National Statistics asked the question whether someone is male or female, and a second question: ‘Which of the following options best describes how you think of your gender identity?’ Options offered to those with a different gender identity to their birth sex are ‘male, female’, or ‘in another way’.

A report from the ONS yesterday said the transgender question was developed along lines suggested by Government equality advisers.

The attempt to count the transgender population may run alongside another first in the 2021 census.

ONS officials say they may also count sexual orientation alongside sexual identity.

A question would ask over-16s to choose a sexual orientation option which ‘best describes how you think of yourself’.

Tick-boxes offered to those answering include ‘heterosexual or straight’, ‘gay or lesbian’, ‘bisexual’, or ‘other, write in’.

The attempt to ask intrusive and highly controversial sexual questions

to people in the 24million homes in England and Wales follows test runs organised by the ONS to discover whether people are likely to boycott the census in protest at their inclusion.

Trials run in a series of cities and rural areas showed that one in five people in England, and almost a third in Wales, said a question on gender identity was not acceptable. The number of objectors rose to almost two thirds in England when it was suggested the question would cover children under 16.

Three out of ten people objected to any question on their sexual orientation. The trials showed that census answers broadly reflected Government surveys that say between 1 and 2 per cent of the population consider themselves to be gay or lesbian.

Meanwhile, officials have abandoned an attempt to ask people about their incomes. While Government departments and local councils are anxious to get details of who earns what and where, a compulsory census income question is regarded as likely to alienate too many.