A Brazilian federal judge ordered the government to include questions about “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” in the 2022 Census, which will be carried out from next August, in response to a request made by the Public Ministry, official sources reported this Friday.
The injunction was issued by Judge Herley da Luz Brasil, head of a federal court in Acre, one of the smallest Brazilian states, but valid for the entire country, the Federal Public Ministry said in a statement.
The measure determines that the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), responsible for the Census“include, with the methodology that you consider appropriate, fields on sexual orientation and gender identity in the 2022 Census”.
The injunction establishes a period of 30 days for the IBGE to notify the Justice of the measures it has adopted to comply with the court order.
The inclusion of this type of questions both in the basic questionnaire and in the household sample surveys that will be carried out in this year’s Census was requested by the Federal Public Ministry in an appeal filed last February.
For the organization, “statistical information plays a significant role in the execution of public policies to highlight social issues that are still latent and it is only from the knowledge of the quantity and living conditions of these populations that their social demands can be included. on the state agenda.
In his defense pleadings before the judge, the IBGE stated that, due to its methodology, the Census “is not the right study to carry out a survey or research on gender identity or sexual orientation.”
He added that in the Census a single person answers for him and for the rest of the residents in his home, and that, due to the sensitive and private nature of this type of information, questions about sexual orientation and gender identity would have to be answered. individually.
The judge rejected the Institute’s response and argued in his decision that the Brazilian State’s failure to address the needs of the LGBTQIA+ population is “historic” and must be corrected.
“While the persecution, the syndication of the sick, death, the holocaust and other criminal discrimination are practiced by action, there is also a violation of rights by state omission,” the judge argued.
Last May the IBGE disclosed the results of a large and unpublished study by home samples that it carried out in 2019 and included these issues for the first time, and which revealed that at least 2.9 million of the 159.2 Brazilians over 18 years of age declare themselves homosexual or bisexuals
According to the National Health Study, which interviewed those responsible in some 108,000 homes throughout the country, 94.8% of Brazilian adults declare themselves heterosexual and 1.8% say they are homosexual (1.13%). or bisexual (0.69%).
According to other results of the study, the proportion of men who declare themselves homosexual (1.4%) is greater than that of women (0.9%), while that of women who declare themselves bisexual (0.8%) is higher to that of men (0.5%).