I'm coming to the conclusion that asking census questions about sexual orientation may be a very dangerous misstep. Our advocacy organizations should be protesting this rather than endorsing it.
"Perge modo et qua te ducit via dirige gressum," said Venus to Aeneas.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
What ten percent looks like
This is what the new census will reveal. I performed this visual exercise with conflicting feelings about the fact that Florida's Broward County has begun a census that will ask questions about the sexual preference of households. It's good to be counted. It is bad to give a hateful government that much information. Also, if we decide to avoid identifying our households as gay, the government will report that we are not so large a portion of the general population after all, and this would be used against us. Damned if we do, damned if we don't. Also, those who are closeted still will remain uncounted.
I'm coming to the conclusion that asking census questions about sexual orientation may be a very dangerous misstep. Our advocacy organizations should be protesting this rather than endorsing it.
I'm coming to the conclusion that asking census questions about sexual orientation may be a very dangerous misstep. Our advocacy organizations should be protesting this rather than endorsing it.
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5 comments:
While the question is probably being asked with good intentions, the results will live forever and could be misused. Hard call, but I am reminded that this is exactly how the Nazis knew where all the gay people lived - made it much easier to round them up. There are other more accurate and less identifying ways of gathering this information.
That is so Kool.
The older I get, the less information I want to share with government agencies. Ironic that I write a blog and spill my guts to strangers. It's a brave new world.
If the collection of this information is for service then tell me why everyone still screams about education, health care and property taxes? It's Big Brother.
Even if it's 5 percent, or even two percent, at least we're counted. I think if there's a statistic backing up the fact that we exist, the groups and individuals discounting us can at least not say our numbers are insignificant.
But this argument can easily get circular, as we're talking hard statistics versus self-identification. But basically I would rather have a stat that we do exist, as opposed to no information about us at all.
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