With a month to go until the census on March 21, campaigners have launched the Sex in the Census campaign to protest the last minute decision by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) not to ask people to answer accurately with their biological sex.
Every census since 1841 has asked people what sex they are. In 2011 the ONS published guidance online saying people could answer according to the gender identity they felt best described them. But in 2011 most people did not complete the census online so this wasn’t widely seen.
This time around, ONS hope that most people will complete the census online, where the small print will be more prominent. Trans identification has also become more common than it was ten years ago. Continue reading “Sex in the census”
