Sexual Orientation Questions To Feature In Mainstream Surveys

UNITED KINGDOM - Questions about sexual orientation are to be asked for the first time in mainstream government surveys this year in response to recent legislation, plugging a gap highlighted by campaigners for years.
Surveys relating to contraceptives and sexual diseases already include questions about sexual practices, and other surveys ask about cohabitation, but the appearance of questions about sexual identity and orientation in mainstream surveys will be more controversial.
Employment equality regulations protecting gay men and women from discrimination and harassment, introduced in 2003, and civil partnerships legislation, which led to the first "gay marriages" last month, have created a demand for statistics on the gay and lesbian population.
The Department of Trade and Industry, which is responsible for the legislation, has added sexual orientation questions to surveys on fair treatment at work, to measure perceptions of unfair discrimination, and to its survey on the awareness of employment rights.
The Department of Health has added a question on sexual identity to its survey of mental health in-patients, and is testing questions in other surveys.
Campaigners also expect a question to be added to the British crime survey to identify those crimes where gay men and women are more likely to be victims. Government statisticians also admit to pressure from the European Union to add a sexual orientation question to the labour force survey.
There are concerns over whether the data will be accurate and useful.
Supporters of the development say that most people have no trouble being asked whether they are gay, lesbian or bisexual, and that such questions will quickly be accepted in the same way as other once-controversial questions on ethnicity and religion. A test carried out in advance of the next population census is reported to have indicated that response rates were unaffected by the addition of a question on sexual orientation.
Getting the phraseology of the questions right is vital due to the sensitivity of the issue and the need to reflect the wide range of personal circumstances. Roger Jowell, professor at City University, argued that sexual orientation was a "hazardous area" and that outright questions were likely to fail.
One survey from the National Centre for Social Research found that one-third of homosexuals kept their sexuality secret from their employers and colleagues. The DTI says that 5 per cent to 7 per cent of the working age population is gay, lesbian or bisexual. The most recent census found fewer than 100,000 people cohabit as same-sex couples.
from Financial Times