Rita Panahi: No place for political posturing in Australian Bureau of Statistics

By submitting to trans activist demands, the Australia Bureau of Statistics is giving in to the Leftist push to redefine language and norms.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has submitted to trans activist demands by implementing new guidelines for collecting information on gender and sexual orientation.

It’s a move designed to boost the numbers who identify as “gender diverse” or “non-binary” after the 2016 census revealed that only 1260 Australians identified as neither male nor female.

The ABS claims it’s responding to “the growing requirement for data that adequately and accurately reflects trans people in Australia” but it’s just giving in to Leftist activists and their never-ending push to redefine language and norms.

There’s every likelihood the data will be corrupted or confused under the new framework where a person can opt to identify as multiple genders. They can even nominate their own gender out of the dozens dreamt up in recent years.

It’s hard to keep track of how many genders supposedly exist; there are 33 genders that are recognised by the Australian Sex Survey, there are 58 gender options on offer for Facebook users, while Healthline lists 64 genders.

Meanwhile, a BBC educational video produced for schoolchildren teaches there are 100 or more gender identities.

The ABS should be concerned with facts and figures not political posturing.

“The gender response option chosen will reflect a person’s gender at that point in time. Some people may not identify with a specific gender or with the concept of gender at all,” said the newly woke ABS which will also adopt “gender-inclusive language” in writing questions with “they/their” pronouns to replace the non-inclusive he/his or she/her.

Australians will also be able to nominate numerous answers for sexual preference, including pansexual, demisexual, autosexual and Libidoist asexual. The list of sexual orientations are even more bewildering than the list of genders.

The ABS should be concerned with facts and figures not political posturing.

University of Sydney sociologist Salvatore Balbones has warned that allowing people to choose more than one gender in the census could distort data and our understanding of issues affecting women.

“That’s why there’s so much conflict between feminists and transgender activists, because a lot of (the people) on the losing end of this potentially are feminists or women in sport or things that are set aside for women,” he said.

Psychologist Professor Dianna Kenny has also questioned the merits of the new guidelines.

“There’s a large number of very young adolescents declaring themselves trans or non-binary or queer. But that’s going to change dramatically as they move through adolescence,” she said.

It’s clear that while transgender people are tiny in number, their activist class is disproportionately loud, powerful and exerts considerable influence in the media, academia, and increasingly in private and public institutions.

Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist