Why are we counting these people

in the next census? 

The Prime Minister has just announced that "gay, lesbian and bi-sexual" people will be counted in the next census. Why?

There is not a lot of room for questions in any census. The number of questions and what they are about is something which needs to be very carefully considered. They need to be questions which allow governments, at least to some extent, to plan for the future. 

There are questions which are obviously very important. We need to know how many people were here on the night. We divide that into residents and non-residents. We find out how old people are. These things help provide education services to the young and aged care services to the old and health care for everyone. If we know where people live then we know something about the need for power and roads. It also helps in providing services to agriculture and fishing - things which feed us.

If you ask people which language they speak at home then you can provide essential language services if the policy is to be "multi-cultural".  If you ask people if they have a disability then you can plan services to support people with disabilities. If you ask if they have any form of religious belief then you can see which religious communities are growing and what impact that might have on future policies.

But if you are gay or lesbian or bisexual or asexual or transgender or something else does it really matter? Do you really need special government services - or have you simply been led to believe you need them? Have we really reached a point where this group is somehow so disabled and disadvantaged they need a place in the census? Are we really going to need planning for vast numbers of children and young people to need gender services? 

I am in no way trying to denigrate people who are happier in same sex relationships. Why would I? I think it is so very, very good that these can now occur in this country without fear of prosecution under the law. But do these people really need additional services? What sort of additional services might they need that are not already there in the community and included in the census? Surely suggesting they do need something more is to mark them out as somehow not simply different but somehow not normal?  

I may be completely wrong about this but I know at least four same sex couples who see no point in the question.