Review of 2021 Census Topics

Introducing Rainbow Families Victoria.

Rainbow Families Victoria aims to empower and support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender diverse, non-binary, intersex and queer parented families - including parents, carers, prospective parents and our children. We coordinate events, produce educational material and resources, provide training and professional development as well as advocate to local, state and federal governments on behalf of rainbow families. Established in 2006, we have a long history of demonstrated success in achieving law reforms to support our rainbow families communities and will continue our work into the future, including developing presentations and a kit to update rainbow families, and services, on the law as it pertains to their relationships, children and families.

Please refer to our response to Additional Comments for a detailed explanation of rainbow families in Victoria and our diverse family forms.

Our families are growing in number and visibility.

Our rainbow family community is rapidly growing but data collection is not keeping up with us!

In data provided by the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages Victoria, from 1 January 2018 to 21 March 2018 there were 54 births registered where couples are same sex. This includes five births pre-2010 where amendments were made to the birth record. Of these, four amendments were to add a parent, and one was for a change of name. In Victoria no data is collected on the sexuality of single mothers nor are trans, gender diverse or non-binary Victorians able to easily change their birth certificates so in some cases births may appear registered to opposite sex couples. The lack of accurate state data impacts on Rainbow Families Victoria’s ability to advocate accurately for our diverse family forms when considering budget submissions to state government, when advocating for representation in early childhood, education or health services, when calling for rainbow families to be included in pre-natal and post-natal care of parents and carers and their children, among other significant areas of social policy.
The 2016 Census found that there are now just under 46,800 same-sex couples living together in Australia. Although an increase of 39% since the 2011 Census, Rainbow Families Victoria concurs with the ABS that this is a largely underreported number as it does not consider the sexuality or gender diversity of respondents as individuals in households or even parenting across more than one household, only as a ‘same sex couple’. Of those who completed the census, 23,700 identified as a male same-sex couple and 23,000 as a female same-sex couple. A total of 15% of same sex couples indicated they were living in same-sex couple families with children – representing a total of 10,500 children and young people aged under 25.

Given the complexities of collecting statistics of sole LGBTIQ, gender diverse and non-binary parents and carers, as well as co-parenting families over two or more households, we expect that number of children living in rainbow families to be significantly higher.

Rainbow Families Victoria surveyed our community via a short four question survey on their experiences of the Census 2016 and on their ideas about questions regarding sex, sexuality and gender and diverse family forms. In the five days prior to June 30, we received 13 responses, elements of which have been included throughout our submissions. We gratefully thank the respondents and their families for contributing their experiences and suggestions to our submissions.

Key Recommendations for Census 2021
1. Include separate questions on sex, sexuality and gender and allow for opt-in options to protect identity and address genuine privacy concerns.

2. Include a separate question on intersex status (in line with the submission by intersex Human Rights Australia)

3. Includes questions that allows for accurate data on diverse family forms to be better identified and explained.

4. Include or amend Topic questions that show understanding of and acknowledge that
• non-female identifying people can give birth or may have given birth previously
• more than two people can be in an intimate relationship
• children can live across two or more homes within multiple parent family forms.

5. Consider the privacy concerns of the LGBTIQ, gender diverse and non-binary communities and the possible implications of data collection and storage especially in relation to the online form which recorded names and address as part of the Census 2016 and any possibilities that data collected by Topic could be linked to peoples address.

Rainbow Families Victoria would also like to suggest that:
a) The Census 2021 clarifies the definition of marital status to allow for overseas ‘same sex’ marriages now being recognised by the Australian government.

b) The ABS consider a new range of papers be released post-Census 2021 including diverse family forms and the LGBTIQ, gender diverse and non-binary communities and the intersections between other topics such as religion, cultural diversity and Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people, for example.

In the words of one respondent “You can only serve your population well when you truly understand it” and it is in that spirit that we commend our submission to the ABS.

Yours sincerely
Rainbow Families Victoria
June 30, 2018.

Rainbow Families Victoria considers our recommendation for a more accurate collection of data on the Households and Families Topic to be of national importance, more specifically to the support of policy development, planning or program monitoring as well as for research purposes.

Rainbow Families, like many people in relationships, are diverse. The questions asked in Census 2016 do not allow for more than two people to indicate a significant relationship in a household on the night of the survey. This made people in poly-amorous relationships unable to accurately reflect their relationships. Similarly multiple parent families (with more than two parents or carers) or co-parenting families were not able to explain how their diverse family form worked. We explain more about our diverse family forms within rainbow families in the Additional Comments section of this submission.

"…there are so many more complex family structures than the nuclear heterosexual model."
Respondent to RFV Survey, June 2018

"I do believe this is important to gather information about (diverse family forms_ So much of Australia's provision of services is centred around the heteronormative default to the exclusion of all others, and it can be very isolating and erasing of other families who don't fit that description."
Respondent to RFV Survey, June 2018

Furthermore the inclusion of the Marital Status questions in the 2021 Census need to be explained - with both marriage equality now available in Australia and overseas same sex marriages being recognised some explanation may be required.

"We couldn’t define our family correctly as SSM wasn’t an option"
Respondent to RFV Survey, June 2018

Rainbow Families Victoria wishes to remind the ABS that in many rainbow families the intention has been that children live across two or more households as part of a co-parenting arrangement. In addition some rainbow families are separated and children move equally between two or more homes or dwellings. The word ‘usually’ makes it harder to consider these options for our diverse family forms.

"I share a child with my ex same sex partner across 2 households and we couldn’t be represented in the census"
Respondent to RFV Survey, June 2018

Rainbow Families Victoria acknowledges that the LGBTIQ, gender diverse and non-binary communities are possibility considered ‘small population groups’ by the ABS definition. We appreciate that our rainbow families make up an even smaller, but not inconsequential, population group within these communities.

However combined with our key recommendations and the data collected under both the Population and the Sex and Gender Topics we believe a more accurate collection of data on diverse family forms could be collected.

Rainbow Families Victoria believes our recommendations in regards to questions asked and included under the Households and Families Topic will be easily understood by respondents, are simple and respondents for whom the question relates to will be able to answer it quickly and easily.

"This is also important for all families and in a multicultural society where not everyone is raised with direct birth parents. We need to see the structure of families and kins (included)…"
Respondent to RFV Survey, June 2018

"Framing a question around whether there are people included in what they define as their immediate family not living with them, is valid, regardless of sexuality."
Respondent to RFV Survey, June 2018

Rainbow Families Victoria believes people should be provided with the appropriate set of questions under the Households and Families Topic that allow for accurate and relevant data to be collected about rainbow families and all diverse family forms nationally.

We do not believe that the recommendations or responses we have provided in our submission could be considered intrusive, offensive or controversial as they simply reflect the reality of people’s lives, experiences and the diverse family forms they live in.

While we do believe that most respondents will be willing and able to answer accurately answer we do want the privacy of respondents and their families will be considered.

NOTE ON PRIVACY CONSIDERATIONS
Rainbow Families Victoria note that some members of the rainbow families communities do hold considerable concerns about the privacy of data collected through the Census 2021 especially if identifiable information like addresses and names can be linked to responses to other census questions.

Similarly there are considerations about under-reporting (where people choose to not include responses to some questions due to fears of personal safety or data security, for example) and the range of intentional and unintentional impacts that low reporting or low responses may have on government perception about the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer communities, including gender diverse and non-binary people, and our families.

"I myself may not feel safe disclosing especially if the data is again kept with our address."
Respondent to RFV Survey, June 2018

"I think this is difficult because census forms are now retained, which compromises privacy, because of the possibility of information being identifiable. I would support this more unequivocally if the forms were not retained. As it is, I think there will be massive under representation with a question like this because many people won't want to record sexuality - especially those with any history of distrusting state institutions. However, it's still worth including to seems a signal that all sexualities are valid, and maybe it will provide some info that will be useful for planning - even though LGBQ will be massively under represented."
Respondent to RFV Survey, June 2018

Rainbow Families Victoria have either raised several concerns or made a number of recommendations on the Households and Families Topic in response to Assessment Criteria 1 to 4. We do not have significant expertise in statistics not survey design to foresee if our recommendations will require considerable coding or processing nor if additional costs will be incurred. We do suggest that for some of our concerns to be addressed there may need to be some explanation (what is a co-parented family form, what is a multiple parent family form, for example) or that there may need to be multiple response categories required.

Rainbow Families Victoria strongly believes that rainbow families are increasing in number across all Australian states and territories but that our current data collection processes are out of date and not reflective of the reality of the lives of many members of rainbow families.

Any improvement to the questions asked in the Household and Families Topic that correctly and accurately reflect diverse families forms and the sex, sexuality and gender, as well as intersex status, of the people living in and belonging to rainbow families will be of immense benefit to future generations of Australians.

Rainbow Families Victoria is unaware of any other nationwide collection of accurate data related to rainbow families nor diverse family forms. We do not believe there is any accurate data collected on a local, state or territory level.

Additional question under Topics in the census 2021 would be an excellent step towards collecting data that reflects the reality of rainbow families across Australia.

Introducing Rainbow Families

Rainbow Families Victoria defines rainbow families as including one, two, three, four or more LGBTIQ parents or carers who care and nurture the children in their family. Family forms can include, but are not limited to, step or blended families, separated families, children who are fostered, in permanent care or adopted, children conceived through assisted reproductive technology, children living across two or more primary homes as part of their parenting arrangement, families with donors and/or surrogates who helped create them, either though altruistic surrogacy in Victoria or through international surrogacy arrangements. The complexities in our diverse rainbow family forms can be characterised in many ways and some examples are provided below:
There are many ‘rainbow families’ that are created through step or blended families, in which same-sex attracted single parents or couples are parenting with a former partner (or the same or opposite gender).

There are also families in which there are more than two parents actively involved in the day-to-day care of children from birth (as opposed to through separation or divorce). These families are formed through ‘co-parenting arrangements’ in which known sperm donors take on a fathering role and co-parent with a lesbian couple or single woman. Many children who are parented by same-sex couples live across two households so as to spend time with their mother/s in one household and their father/s in another household.

Sole parents by choice are also becoming recognised as being more common. An Australian study (Work, Love, Play, see Power et al 2010) has suggested that there may be a large number of single mothers who identify as lesbian or bisexual. Many of these mothers conceive children when they are single and may or may not have a co-parenting arrangement with the donor or father of the child. In these circumstances, the donor/father will most likely not be listed in a child’s birth certificate if they were conceived via artificial means (home-insemination, clinic-based insemination or IVF).

Children in some families may not be biologically related to each other (for example: where one child is a born with a known donor and another with a clinic donor to two women in a relationship but listed as siblings on a birth certificate) or may have been conceived or born in different legal jurisdictions. Our rainbow families may include children raised in a rainbow family who were conceived differently from each other but are legal siblings (eg; one child raised with four co-parents over two homes - where one member of each co-parent relationship is biologically related to that child - and another child born through international surrogacy with a biological link to one parent in one home). There are many differing examples but central to all of our rainbow families are the children who live in them.

Some rainbow family forms began as what is perceived by external observers (support services, health and medical services, etc) to be heterosexual - after a child is born one parent may have transitioned so the family is now a same sex parented family or the family may include bisexual people as parents yet the family can be perceived as heterosexually parented by others.

In recent years (from around 2000 onward), gay and bisexual men in same sex relationships have begun using surrogacy services to form their families. Anecdotally we are aware some lesbian/bisexual same sex couples may also be accessing surrogacy but at the time of writing have no data. This is most often done offshore in settings where commercial surrogacy is legal, and in most but not all cases an anonymous egg donor is used. In Victoria altruistic surrogacy has been available since 2010 and we are aware that some gay/bi male couples have accessed this option as a way to create their families.

Many same-sex couples or same-sex attracted single parents become parent through fostering. While the option of becoming a foster parent is promoted to LGBT communities by some agencies, there is evidence that some LGBT people experience discrimination within the foster care system. In Victoria LGBTQ people as same sex couples were allowed to apply to adopt from September 2016, after having for many years been active as foster carers or carers of children on permanent care orders.

We respectfully recommend that the ABS undertake an extensive literature review of Australian research on diverse family forms within the LGBTIQ, gender diverse and non-binary communities to further inform the development of the Census 2021.