Dr Pater Saxton Glbti people are being encouraged to help convince the government statistician to include sexual orientation in the next census, with the objective of ensuring that our health and well-being needs are given sufficient priority and resources by public bodies. Statistics New Zealand does not currently support inclusion of sexual orientation in census. In May it acknowledged the importance of gathering data on sexuality but declined to gather such information through the census citing accuracy of responses and concerns about such questions being considered too intrusive. “Sexual orientation is multi-faceted in its definition, including elements of behaviour, desire, and identity. It is conceptually difficult to define and measure, particularly given the self-completed nature and limited space of census forms," Statistics NZ said. But “while some individuals might not understand what sexual identity is or consider it too intrusive, some people also feel this way about topics like income, religiosity or ethnicity, yet those topics are included. It’s discriminatory in principle to hold a question about sexual orientation to a higher standard,” counters Dr Peter Saxton of the Gay Men's Health research group at Auckland University.. “Legal equality needs to result in health equality for GLB New Zealanders, and that begins with census, being counted,” he says. “If the census is useful for other groups in society, then it will also be useful for gay, lesbian and bisexual communities and those who provide services to them” says Saxton. “So long as sexual orientation is omitted, gay, lesbian and bisexual New Zealanders will remain invisible in official statistics.” Saxton says a single question on sexual identity is the simplest way to measure sexual orientation in census. Although it’s true that specialised surveys can ask more nuanced questions about sexual attraction, identity, behaviour and partnering, nothing comes close to census for providing accurate information on small populations like gay, lesbian and bisexual New Zealanders." Submissions on the 2018 census close on July 3rd and can be made here.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 1st July 2015 - 11:21am