It's Census Night

 The form is in - did it yesterday. 

It wasn't that controversial - not at all.

I am home. 

I'm still living where I was ten years ago. 

I'm still alone.

The questions about financial status, home ownership status, child ownership status and marital status were all pretty standard - not that marital status means anything to me. Why anybody would want to get married is beyond me. 

I remember for the last census there was a lot of bluster around the non-inclusion of a question about sexuality. There was one this year - no fanfare, no hassle - pretty straight-forward really. According to AI, the question read:

The Australian Bureau of Statistics includes a sexual orientation question on the census for people aged 16 and older. 

The exact wording asks: "How does the person describe their sexual orientation?"

Key Details About the Question: Optional to Answer: It is completely voluntary, and respondents can choose not to answer.

Age Limit: It is only asked of individuals 16 years of age and older.

Purpose: The data helps plan targeted health, social programs, and community services.

Available Response Options

• Straight
• Gay or Lesbian
• Bisexual
• Use another term (with a write-in text field)
• Don't know
• Prefer not to answer

I suppose it appeases the wowsers to have this as an optional question. And if you're trans, or pan, or a-sexual, or whatever you might be, there's space to write it in. 

The other question that tickled me was the one on religion. AI says it read:

"What is your religion?" on individual digital forms.

Answering this optional question is managed through a combination of common tick-box selections and a free-text write-in field.

Tick-Box Options: Based on the most common mutually exclusive responses from the previous 2021 Census, the listed choices include:

• No religion
• Catholic
• Anglican (Church of England)
• Islam
• Hinduism
• Uniting Church
• Presbyterian
• Buddhism
• Greek Orthodox
• Baptist
• Free-Text Field: A write-in space is provided for any religion or spiritual/secular belief not explicitly listed among the standard tick boxes.

Rather than say that I'm a masonic, Kabbalistic Wiccan, I erred on the side of No Religion. I'm certainly not a Christian, there was no box for agnostics and it's easier to just say you don't participate in organised religion, than say something else. I'm a bit surprised that there wasn't a check box for Judaism - or maybe it's the circle of friends I keep. 

To be honest, I think this is a fairly important question. Hopefully the non-Conservative Christians can see that they're in the minority and they can take their religious beliefs and either keep them to themselves or stick them up their bum. (Can I say it any plainer?)

And though they've said that there's a large fine for those who don't answer truthfully, I reckon there might be a few transexual Jedis who never got out of kindergarten filling out the form.

Today's song: