Census questions on ethnicity and gender

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/oct/11/census-questions-on-ethnicity-and-gender

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Wed 11 Oct 2017 18.18 BST

Last modified on Mon 27 Nov 2017 15.35 GMT

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Your leading article (The census has to hold a mirror that reflects the whole nation, 10 October) pointed out the danger of misusing census data for political purpose. Yet this is precisely what some British MPs have taken it upon themselves to do.

Last month, two MPs of Sikh faith fired off a letter – signed by their 140 colleagues – to the head of the Office for National Statistics, asking him to introduce a separate tick-box for Sikh ethnicity on the 2021 census form. This is despite the fact that the Sikhs are not an ethnic group. How can they be when their “ethnicity” is shared by Muslims and Hindus too? Like their Hindu and Muslim counterparts, they are, and will continue to remain, Punjabis. Any attempt to describe them as anything other than Punjabi would be tantamount to redefining the term “ethnicity”.

Moreover, the campaign to describe Sikhs as an ethnic group is spearheaded by Sikh separatists, who want to create a separate Sikh state carved out of India. The idea behind the campaign is that if Sikhs are recognised as a separate ethnic group by the Office for National Statistics, such acceptance would add an extra layer of legitimacy to their separatist cause.Randhir Singh BainsGants Hill, Essex

• A leader with some wise words about how a census might accommodate the self-identity of trans people concludes “sexual orientation counts, and a way must be found to count it”.

Being trans is not a matter of sexual orientation. Trans is about the gender or sex (these are sometimes distinguished) you identify as. Sexual orientation is a matter of the sex of those you are attracted to. There are people who question the inclusion of both under the single LGBT umbrella.Paul BrownseyBearsden, East Dunbartonshire

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