Gender choice: are you Mr, Ms or Mx? (Aust)

The Australian 23 May 2016
Family First Comment: Australia has officially lost their way!
“In February, the Australian ¬Bureau of Statistics issued a “standard for sex and gender variables, 2016” which listed an “other” category. “The inclusion of the ‘please specify’ write-in facility for ‘Other’ allows respondents the opportunity to describe their sex using a term they are comfortable with, while also maximising the potential for analysis of the responses provided.”
Imagine the phone call – “Which gender are you? I’ll read out the 55 options….”
Gonna be a looooooong phone call. :)
Government departments facing a July 1 deadline to comply with new federal gender guidelines are introducing new categories alongside male and female on forms and advising staff to refrain from assuming a person’s gender based on their name. Thousands of voters updating their personal electoral details ¬before this year’s federal election have been given an option to list their gender as unspecified, as part of a broader push to eradicate ¬gender-based assumptions.
The Australian Electoral Commission has also recently started accepting Mx as a title, with a -default gender of indeterminate. This year’s census on August 9 will be the first where people are provided the option to identify as male, female or “other”.
In February, the Australian ¬Bureau of Statistics issued a “standard for sex and gender variables, 2016” which listed an “other” category. “The inclusion of the ‘please specify’ write-in facility for ‘Other’ allows respondents the opportunity to describe their sex using a term they are comfortable with, while also maximising the potential for analysis of the responses provided,” the standard states. Government agencies are following the Australian Government Guidelines on the Recognition of Sex and Gender, updated in November last year, and issued by the Attorney-General’s Department. The ABS said the guidelines meant it had advised staff they “should refrain from making assumptions about a person’s sex and/or gender identity based on indicators such as their name, voice or appearance, and suggests that when interviews are conducted interviewers should read out the question and all response options.”
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/gender-choice-are-you-mr-ms-or-mx/news-story/426ae8ffaddfa2e48740930438f4afeb