The next Scottish census in 2021 is to include data on sexual orientation and gender identification. Why?
To that question came some amusing response from diverse bureaucrats and politicians.
All correctly emphasised that “sex is a biological given that does not change, even with surgery and hormones”. Gender on the other hand, it was claimed, was defined as “the internal sense of who we are”. That’s certainly news to the Oxford dictionary which basically says it’s a defining word for either of the two sexes.
This nonsense is being led by Fiona Hyslop, the culture secretary responsible for the census. Such information was “necessary for providing support and protection for Scotland’s transgender population” she advised the media. Why transgender people need support and from whom or what they need protection, she did not say. One can smell yet another unnecessary bureaucracy looming.
I’m not a Scot but one reason among many that I have a home there is my delight in their relentless piss-taking. Mark my word, the next census will produce a rich kaleidoscope of identities should the identity question not be very narrowly framed. Knowing them, thousands of Scots will identify as clams, ostriches, bookcases and whatever.