These are the two questions of the 2022 Population Census on sexual orientation and gender identity that are optional, so citizens do not have the obligation to answer them

There are two approaches to the 2022 Population and Housing Census questionnaire that are optional, so it is the responsibility of citizens aged 18 or over to answer them or not.

They are questions about sexual orientation and gender identity.

Before asking them, the interviewer will say that there are questions about gender identity and sexual orientation. And she will remind citizens that their responses are confidential and for statistical purposes. Then he must say: May I do them?

If the respondent responds positively, we proceed with the following approaches:

one.- According to your gender, how do you identify (…)

Male?

Feminine?

Trans male?

female trans?

non binary?

Do not know not answer

2.- Do you feel emotional, physical or sexual attraction to:

Men?

Women?

By men and women?

Other?

Do not know not answer

These are part of section V on population.

The Guide to the Census Questionnaire of the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC) indicates that the objective of these questions is to “investigate the gender of people aged 18 and over according to their self-identification”.

The purpose is to make it possible to “make visible the LGBTIQ+ population (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex, queer) such as trans people and other unidentified in the binary (masculine, feminine), non-heterosexual people, others”.

The document states that the result “will contribute to the implementation of public policies to promote, protect, guarantee and respect the rights of this population group affected by discrimination, violence and inequality.”

It is the first time that a national census contemplates sex-gender variables.

Diane Rodríguez, activist and president of the Ecuadorian Federation of LGBTIQ Organizations, assures that the questions were agreed with the organizations of the group during this year and that the INEC listened in part to the recommendations on specifying with which gender identity the person surveyed identifies, beyond the physical characteristics with which he was born.

However, the concern of the leadership is focused on the implementation of this questionnaire in homes where there are people who are part of the LGBTIQ+ group but still do not recognize it in front of their relatives.

“There are many closeted trans, gay and lesbian people of legal age who keep their sexual orientation secret and their parents don’t know it, so they prefer not to answer or they won’t tell the truth,” says Rodríguez, who acknowledges that it was a closet trans until she was 21 years old.

Even more so in the scenario that they have to answer the interviewer’s questions in front of their parents. Then, a result that is not consistent with reality could be generated.

Hence, in 2023 the INEC plans to carry out a specific census to more accurately establish the number of members of this group.

The organization carried out the first investigation (case study) on Living Conditions, Social Inclusion and Human Rights of the LGBTI population in Ecuador in 2013. There it was determined that the conditions of generic sex diversities are among the most excluded from access to education, employment, health and social security. (YO)