This day marked a victory for inclusivity, and was celebrated as a step towards our social evolution as we march forward into the future.

But was it really? We all know that our federal government is heavily influenced by evangelical ideology, and many members of Parliament on both sides of the aisle did not support the amendment to the Marriage Act to include same-sex marriage.

A total of 38.1 per cent of Australians who voted in the Marriage Equality Referendum, voted "no".

A little more than 20 per cent didn't vote at all. Therefore, it's no secret that as a society, we seem focused more on "tolerance" than "inclusivity" and there is a difference. An important difference.

The 2021 Census seemed to echo the heteronormative narrative that aligns with the federal government's ideological underpinnings.

The outrage felt by the LGBTIQA+ community was palpable - and wholly understandable and shared - on Twitter on Tuesday night.

One tweeter described their feelings as LGBTIQA+ people being erased because "what isn't counted doesn't exist".

Another was justifiably angry and upset that the Census didn't provide the opportunity for him to include his children as belonging to both him and his husband.

The Census claims that every stat tells a story. What story does this tell?

The lack of questions about sexual orientation was astounding. It didn't allow for the many and varied families that sew together the fabric of our society. It "othered" those who didn't identify with the heteronormative idea of a mother, father and 2.6 children.

In 2016, the ABS undertook a pilot study around the "sex" question and this led to the change in year's Census to include "non-binary sex".

But according to the Census information online, if this option is ticked, they are randomly assigned to a binary option, so what's the point?

This is saying that the non-binary identification doesn't exist, with the government condescendingly patting you on the head and saying "whatever you think is best" while doing what it thinks is best all along.

The Census was such an opportunity to collect information from our nation's people to understand how our society is growing and evolving, while ensuring that policy meets those changing needs. However, this has missed the mark.

Tolerance is defined as the willingness to tolerate the opinions or behaviours of others that we dislike.

Thus promoting a narrative of tolerance with regards to the gender and sexual identities of others is to encourage the continued dislike and disapproval of them, but to stay silent about those opinions. For what? Keeping the peace?

This Census reeks of this method of thinking.

What we really need is the promotion of a narrative of inclusivity and a process of encouraging people to think outside the squares they've boxed themselves into and recognise the importance of accepting people for who they are.

People who don't fit the "heteronormative ideal" don't need the approval of those who do. Their sense of self should not be defined by what others deem acceptable.

Tolerance is insulting. Tolerance is uninformed.

Tolerance suggests that it's OK to have an opinion about who someone else is, and then judge them silently for it while pretending to welcome them into society as the self-appointed gate-keepers.

Only this Census hasn't even done that.

Non-binary people were forced to select a sex that might contradict their gender identity, as gender identity wasn't even asked about.

And while there was an option to select non-binary sex, this identification is then erased when no-one's looking, in the back workings of the data processing, without even informing them of what sex they've been "assigned" by the government.

And it IS an assignation, because this Census is not necessarily anonymous.

In 99 years, when this data is available to our future generations, our ancestors will be able to look us up to build their family trees and see whatever sex has been assigned to their ancestor: a sex that not even the individual who submitted the form was informed of.

Can you imagine that? This is not inclusivity.

The only way forward is to shed our belief that we have any right to judge another for their sex, gender identity or sexual identity and just accept people for who they are.

The time for just "tolerance" is well past. We can be better than this.

Zoë Wundenberg is a careers consultant and un/employment advocate at impressability.com.au. Twitter: @ZoeWundenberg