On reporting statistics and monitoring
Oct. 24th, 2011 09:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sparkindarknessThere has been a series of kafuffles here and there about councils and other government agencies collecting information on whether someone is GBLT or not – you know, the standard forms, tick various boxes etc. Councils and other government bodies have been scrapping them because they're considered “intrusive”
Such forms are not new – they regularly collect information on race, ethnicity, gender and religion to name but a few. So do many employers for that matter.
And there is a point. I don't particularly like being faced with the prospect of having to lie or having to Out myself. It's never fun to be put in that position (though many of us are put in that position repeatedly). Nor do I particularly trust the powers that be to have that information, keep that information safe and use it wisely – or understand just how important that information is
And, of course, any statistics about us are always suspect because of the problem of the closet and the dangers of outing ourselves. By definition, it is difficult, if not impossible, to collect accurate data about a hidden population and there's always going to be a level of suspect on the data produced.
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Such forms are not new – they regularly collect information on race, ethnicity, gender and religion to name but a few. So do many employers for that matter.
And there is a point. I don't particularly like being faced with the prospect of having to lie or having to Out myself. It's never fun to be put in that position (though many of us are put in that position repeatedly). Nor do I particularly trust the powers that be to have that information, keep that information safe and use it wisely – or understand just how important that information is
And, of course, any statistics about us are always suspect because of the problem of the closet and the dangers of outing ourselves. By definition, it is difficult, if not impossible, to collect accurate data about a hidden population and there's always going to be a level of suspect on the data produced.
Read More