On Tuesday August 11, the Australian census will ask specific questions about gender identity and sexual orientation for the first time. It will also amend the previous wording about a person’s sex, which conflated sex and gender, to “sex recorded at birth”.
For many in the LGBTQ+ community, these changes are hard-won. They come after the federal government reversed its decision in 2024 not to include questions about gender and sexual orientation, amid widespread backlash.