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War veteran of 91 told: Tick the box if you're a lesbian
Last updated at 23:37pm on 31.10.07It wasn't exactly the sort of question Bill Burrow was expecting as he read through the garden waste survey from his local council - Are you a lesbian?
The leaflet asked the 91-yearold Second World War veteran to "identify your sexual orientation" and gave him four boxes to tick: Heterosexual, lesbian, gay man or bisexual.
The widower was so bemused by the question in a simple survey about recycling garden rubbish that he passed it on to his son Richard to make sure that he had not misread it.
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What rubbish: Bill Burrow with the survey
The form was sent to hundreds of residents across Leeds by the city council, which has defended the question.
But great-grandfather Mr Burrow yesterday criticised council officers, and won support from a former lord mayor of the city.
Mr Burrow, who was married to his wife Joan for 67 years, said: "My son was laughing his hat off. He said, 'Look dad, they think you're copulating in your dustbin'."
"I didn't know what to put for sexual orientation. So Richard wrote that long word that begins with an H - heterosexual, I think."
The survey was conducted to canvas opinion on the city's "brown bin" service introduced last year to collect natural waste such as leaves and grass-cuttings.
But it also prompted those who took part to divulge their religious beliefs, ethnic origin and marital status.
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Wrong question? The leaflet sent out to Leeds residents
Mr Burrow said: "We didn't want to know anybody else's business in my day. What on earth does this have to do with your garden rubbish?"
The survey was attacked by former-Leeds mayor and ex-Tory councillor Keith Loudon, who also received the leaflet.
He said: "The local civil service has gone mad.
"What your ethnic origin, religion, marital status or sexual orientation has to do with how much brown waste you produce is irrelevant. This is ludicrous.
"I would encourage civil disobedience. Don't fill it in or, if you do, fill it in in a humorous manner."
The survey was defended by city council leader Mark Harris, whose duties include responsibility for equal opportunities.
He said the council had a legal duty to monitor whether it was providing a fair and equal service to all the citizens of Leeds.
He added: "If some people do not wish to answer all the questions, then they don't have to.
"However, many people do identify themselves with these particular groups and do want to know their voices are being listened to by the council.
"If some of the electorate don't believe we are, we want to know. All this data is confidential and will be used only for statistical purposes."
Reader views (7)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
I like the spelling mistake, makes me wonder if he can't spell "homosexual" either, so he put "gay man" instead.
- Robert, London
I was told to get in touch with my feminine side, I did and discovered that I am a lesbian. Perhaps Leeds Council know more about me than I thought.
- Bj, London, England
Ignorance is bliss. Perhaps Leeds council should learn how to spell heterosexual before putting it on forms - it gives a good indication of the intelligence of the creator of this snooping.
- Guy, Netherlands
I weep for this country! It's instructive also to note that Mark Harris, the so-called 'leader' of the council with responsibility for equal opportunities can't even spell 'Heterosexual' correctly.
- David, Cambridge, UK
How exactly does this information help them with removing rubbish? Do co-habiting Jewish Lesbians get priority over single gay Hindus? This strikes me as a complete waste of taxpayers' money with no worthwhile benefit to be gained by anyone apart from requiring more people in the civil service to process this dross.
- Trevor Roll, London
I still do not understand what any of these questions have to do with garbage collection unless one neighbour is going to put his left over pork chops into his Jewish colleague's garbage. Or perhaps if a heterosexual man can be sued for putting last month's Playboy magazine into his gay neighbours garbage.
- Peter Glazier, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Great regards, indeed, for the 91-year-old veteran! But, the city council leader Mr Mark Harris seems justified in his rationale, whatsoever. I would, however, suggest that another box could have been added to this particular section of the leaflet giving an option of 'no comments' to tick. Nevertheless, an interesting piece of news item! I would like to add here, too, that if there is so much hue and cry over the statistics of immigrants all over UK now-a-days, why not the statistics about sexual orientation of the general public (including the immigrants).
- Nadeem Asghar, London, UK.
