Senator Sharon Keogan has hit out at the CSO for its advice about gender “non-binary” answers on the Census, saying the statistics body is afraid of being “cancelled.”
The comments were made this week in the Seanad, after the CSO received criticism for only providing “Male” and “Female” boxes on the census to be ticked under “Sex”.
BEN SCALLAN: With the country embroiled in a brutal cost of living and energy crisis, one Fianna Fáil senator is focused on the really important issues: putting “non-binary” gender options on the census.#gripthttps://t.co/bRTEEJ0lry
— gript (@griptmedia) March 26, 2022
This was controversial, as some argued that this did not leave room for transgender and “non-binary” individuals to enter their preferred gender identity.
In response, the CSO said that such individuals could simply tick both boxes.
However, Senator Keogan argued that this would create confusion about the “reality of the situation on the ground.”
Sharon Keogan on the question of sex selection on the census form.
"When it comes to gender in this country, sense is subservient to sensitivities" pic.twitter.com/lldnc5IzMj
— JRD (@JRD0000) March 31, 2022
The Senator compared ticking both boxes to spoiling a ballot, chastising the CSO for directing people “to give nonsensical answers on their forms.”
“The instruction to tick both boxes, male and female, when asked to indicate one’s biological sex, for those who do not wish to describe themselves as either one, is not only devoid of reason, but is incompatible with gender theory, the adherence of which are very people the CSO is trying to appease,” she said.
“Gender theorists have, since the 20th century, sought to establish the idea of gender as socially constructed, unfettered and distinct from biological sex. Everyone has a sex and everyone has a gender. One cannot choose one’s sex, but one can choose one’s gender. Such is the maxim of gender theology.”
The Senator said she would have “no problem” with the CSO having a separate box for gender, as like as male and female sex options were available.
“However, [the CSO] did not think of that,” she said.
“Instead, it scrambled to conjure up some compromise after the forms were printed, resulting in this muddying of our data.
“The CSO of course knows that this solution makes no sense. It does not care, because when it comes to gender in this country, sense is subservient to sensitivities.”
She concluded: “Actors and singers have long feared being cancelled. It seems now that our CSO will forever operate under the same fear.”