06/03/2021
The Census takes place on Saturday 21st March. Every household in the country is legally obligated to report on who is staying at the property on that night, even if they are just visiting. Censuses have been around since the days of the Roman Empire – indeed, any LGBTQ Christian will tell you that is how the story of Jesus of Nazareth begins, with his parents on a journey to Bethlehem to report for a Census called by the cruel rulers of Rome. And just as in those days, the primary reason for a census remains for taxation and service provision purposes. Another cruel ruler to impose a census was William the Conquerer, whose barbaric occupation of England was underpinned with a census survey so overreaching that the traumatized peasants referred to it as the Domesday Book of 1086. The first modern UK Census was held in 1801 and they have occurred every ten years since then, with the exception of 1941, during the Second World War. On the 2021 Census, there is a question about sexual orientation and another on gender identity. These questions are not part of the compulsory part of the questionnaire, which can be enforced with a one thousand pound fine. The inclusion of these questions has been welcomed by some LGBTQ groups, although those on the radical left and anarchist or libertarian wings of the movement have often expressed the opinion that Censuses are part of the oppressive architechture of the state and should be resisted.
