UK Census 2021 To Ask Questions About Sexuality and Gender Identity

@DiscordTiger Said

I think they added it last census over here. At least I know I’ve seen the question before 2020.
Though that might have been one of the specific censuses.

Honestly, I felt it was easier answering a survey like that than answering specific questions about a relationship from people in person. But that could be me.

I’ve seen how the data comes out and I’m relative confident it’s not specific enough to “hunt” people down. Though I know that is a concern people have when in a marginalized group. And honestly politics is making it harder and harder to say something is ridiculous and could never really happen. The line between satire and actual events is blurring.

@DiscordTiger Said

I think they added it last census over here. At least I know I’ve seen the question before 2020.
Though that might have been one of the specific censuses.

Honestly, I felt it was easier answering a survey like that than answering specific questions about a relationship from people in person. But that could be me.

I’ve seen how the data comes out and I’m relative confident it’s not specific enough to “hunt” people down. Though I know that is a concern people have when in a marginalized group. And honestly politics is making it harder and harder to say something is ridiculous and could never really happen. The line between satire and actual events is blurring.

@Jennifer1984 Said

You have hit the nail on the head in your third paragraph.... these are precisely the sort of concerns that are starting to emerge on LGBT forums.

Pre 2016 the gathering of such data would have been generally accepted in the belief that it was indeed going to be used to address social inequality. That is not the case now.

Since then we have had the introduction of the "Snoopers Charter" (The Data Communications Act) which gives the police and security services unprecedented rights to intercept private communications, gather online and telephone data, compile databases on private citizens without referral to the Data Protection Act and even remotely activate telephones, computers and internet televisions in people's homes surreptitiously to listen in to conversations and even spy on them through device cameras. The government has made it easier for the spooks to obtain warrants to do this, without the need for evidence that people are doing anything to justify the intrusion.

No surprise then that there is very little trust in this government and a lot of people feel quite uneasy about it here.

@DiscordTiger Said

Yeah, the mistrust here is over the citizenship question, but it’s the same concept. And points to a complete breakdown in trust that government has the best interest of the people in mind and there will be protection of the sensitive data.

From an academic perspective I see the value in collecting. But current leadership here has abused any trust I have in gov. (And in a lot of society and people I thought were friends, but that is probably a different topic. I belong to marginalized groups, but can pass as the majority. It’s a double edged sword. I don’t get personal attacks as much, but people show their true colors then can’t understand why I’m backing off.)

@Jennifer1984 Said

I can see where you're coming from and I know how you feel.

It's the climate of suspicion and mistrust that is the disturbing thing.

After the Civil Partnerships Act in 2005 and all the advances made during the Tony Blair years.... and even to an extent, carried on by David Cameron who fine-tuned the concept of gay unions as 'partnerships' to actual 'marriage', the whole of society seemed to have embraced homosexuals as ordinary people.

I was very fortunate in that I enjoyed the best of this. I came out in 2003 and as a young person didn't really suffer the worst of the discrimination and persecution that went before.

Even after the passing of the Snoopers Charter some six years ago, that in itself didn't seem to make much difference to us. That was sold to the public on the grounds of being an anti-terrorism and child protection measure and who could disagree with that.

But since 2016 the whole picture has changed. I know I rattle on about Brexit and it must become boring to some people, but it's almost impossible to convey in mere words the shift we have undergone here since then.

The hard right have always lacked credibility because most people were generally liberal minded. All we wanted was to live our lives... trundle along... make a living in peace and security. Very ordinary aspirations and we were happy, accepting and tolerant.

Brexit changed all that. It emboldened the hard right and they've used it to gather momentum since.

It has made extremism acceptable. It is now acceptable for the government to contemplate sending navy ships to sink migrant dinghies attempting to cross the English Channel. It is now acceptable for the government to remove funding to feed children in poverty. And it is now acceptable for people to persecute minorities again. Despite a relentless and conspicuous catalogue of failure, corruption, abuse of power and blatant disregard for any of the norms of acceptable political practice, the Tories are unbeatable in an election at this time. How does this happen...?

Calls to bring back the death penalty..... forcibly separate migrant children from their families...... exclude minorities from social services......... withdraw Britain from the Human Rights Act..... Abolish any number of Civil Liberties..... all these and many more are being touted seriously, and are being taken up by politicians pushing to put them through Parliament. With an 80 seat majority in the House of Commons, and Boris Johnson elevating those he can trust to toe the party line into the House of Lords, the likelihood of success is becoming increasingly certain.

The Tories are changing electoral boundaries (gerrymandering) to prevent the opposition ever gaining control. Opposition constituencies are being merged, 2 into 1 to cut the number of seats they can win in Parliament.

20'000 more police being recruited by the party that in 2015 cut police numbers. What does that smack of...? Threats to use the army on the streets for civil control in case of demonstrations.

All of these moves have started, and gathered pace since June 2016. There is a feel of all this being part of a systematic move to an oppressive and dictatorial regime

And now, out of the blue, they want to start gathering this data. Call me Little Miss Paranoid if you will, but you can see where suspicions of a systematic descent into fascism are coming from.

You've read the likes of Bob the Fisherman and the Australian on this very forum. Extreme stuff. Disturbing stuff and you'd call it unsustainable in a functioning democracy. But that is what we no longer have.

And so what may seem an innocuous question on a census form..... that most of us would accept as being reasonable and trustworthy at any other time now seems dark and fraught with mistrust and suspicion.

What do they REALLY want this data for...?

And I hate what this growing climate of fear and trepidation is doing to the country I had grown to feel safe and secure in.

We are starting to get genuinely scared.