Sexual orientation in the UK by region, sex, age, legal partnership status, and ethnic group. These are official statistics in development.

This report presents findings on the health and health-related behaviours of the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) population in England. These are analysed by age, sex and ethnicity. The data are based on a representative sample of adults, aged 16 and over, who participated in the Health Survey for England from 2011–2018. 2% of adults surveyed in 2011-2018 identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) The Health Survey for England series was designed to monitor trends in the health, and health related behaviours, of adults and children in England.

There were estimated to be approximately **** million people in the United Kingdom who identified as being Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual in 2023, compared with ******* in 2014.

In 2023, approximately 91.2 percent of the population of London identified as being Heterosexual or Straight, which was the lowest among regions of the United Kingdom. As of this year, approximately 3.5 percent of Londoners identified as being Gay or Lesbian, 1.7 percent as Bisexual, 0.9 percent as Other and 2.8 percent who did not know, or refused to answer.

Sexual identity estimates by occupation 2014. This is presented at a UK level, and broken down by England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

There were ****** sexual orientation hate crimes reported by the police in England and Wales in the 2024/25 reporting year, compared with ****** in the previous year.

The EU Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Survey (EU LGBT) was conducted by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). It is the first ever EU-wide online survey to establish an overview concerning the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people (18 years or older) and their experiences with regard to fundamental rights in the 28 EU Member States. Up until now, there has been very little comparable data collected across the EU about the everyday experiences of LGBT people with respect to discrimination, and lot of the available information is limited to occasional news reports and court judgements. As the first EU-wide survey of its kind, the results support the development of equal treatment policies for LGBT people in the European Union and set the agenda for years to come. Based on the survey results, national and European policy makers, as well as non-governmental organisations, are able to better target their advocacy strategies and activities to support LGBT communities to live and express themselves freely in a non-discriminatory environment. The survey was completely anonymous (no additional data on the participants and their sessions were logged in any way). The survey data collection operated by Gallup Europe, a professional survey and consultancy firm. In order to ensure that the survey delivers evidence needed for policy making, the EU LGBT Survey counted on the participation of a large and diverse group of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people from each country. Hence, it was vitally important for the success of the survey that FRA and Gallup worked together with civil society organisations to reach a wide audience and raise awareness concerning the survey, including participants emailing the survey, sharing it through social media or simply inviting LGBT friends to take part.

More information can be found on the FRA website

According to a survey of LGBTQ+ people in Great Britain, ** percent agreed somewhat that LGBTQ+ individuals faced discrimination in the workplace due to their gender identity, while a further ** percent strongly agreed they did. Just three percent strongly disagreed, that LGBTQ+ individuals faced discrimination at work for this reason.

In 2023, approximately 93.6 percent of the population of the United Kingdom identified themselves as being straight or heterosexual, compared with two percent who identified as either Gay or Lesbian, 1.8 percent as Bisexual, 0.7 percent as Other and 2.7 percent who did not know, or refused to answer.

There were estimated to be ******* same-sex couple families in the United Kingdom in 2024, compared with just ****** in 1996.

The study uses a mixed methods, layered design: 1. In-depth narrative interviews with a sample of 46 LGBT young people, from across England, aged 16-26 who are currently or were previously in care. The interviews focused on enabling young people to describe their sense of identity; their experiences in placement; their contact with birth relatives; their relationships with close friends, partners and peer groups; their contact with professionals (e.g. teachers, social workers); and their experience in the wider community. Narrative analysis of the interviews was used to provide an in-depth and nuanced understanding of identity development. 2. Semi-structured interviews with 26 foster carers across England who had experience of caring for LGBT young people. Interviews provide information from carers about the young people's experiences, but also how carers see their roles, relationships and the support they need. Data was analysed thematically using NVivo. 3. A survey of local authority policy, provision and practice to identify services available to LGBT young people in care or leaving care. 78% (n=118) of English local authorities returned data. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic qualitative coding. 4. Multi-agency focus groups were held with a range of professionals, towards the end of the project, exploring the policy and practice issues emerging from the literature review, survey and qualitative interviews. Focus groups were conducted in 2 Northern Metropolitan boroughs and an Eastern Non-Metropolitan county.

This collection comprises mixed-methods data from a study exploring the use of abusive behaviours by partners in same-sex, bisexual and/or transgender relationships and practitioners' accounts of and perspectives on developing suitable and inclusive interventions for, and responses to, perpetrators of domestic violence and abuse in same-sex, bisexual and/or transgender relationships.

In recent years in the UK there has been recognition that domestic violence and abuse (DVA) takes place in same-sex, bisexual and/or transgender relationships and a parallel and emerging body of research which has begun to explore and develop understandings about how and why this occurs, and whether and how victim/survivors seek help. However, despite this growing literature, there has been no dedicated research on those who are the abusive partners in same-sex, bisexual and/or trans relationships, and consequently there has been little evidence to inform the development of services to address their behaviours. This study, which we have named the Coral Project, is the first UK study to collect data specifically about the perpetration of violent and abusive behaviours in lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender (LGB and/or T) relationships. The aims of the Coral Project were to: explore similarities and differences across sexuality and gender of those who enact ‘abusive’ behaviours in LGB and/or T and heterosexual relationships; do this with those who have enacted ‘abusive’ behaviours as well as practitioners who provide interventions for predominantly heterosexual male perpetrators; explore what methods might work best to elicit data to address these aims; and share key findings with key stakeholders to develop best practice guidance for work with those who use ‘abusive’ behaviours in LGBT relationships. A mixed-methods approach was taken in order to gather both quantitative and qualitative data about the use of abusive behaviours in same-sex, bisexual and/or transgender relationships through a national online survey and follow-up in-depth interviews with volunteers from the survey, respectively. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups with practitioners were also conducted in order to elicit practitioners’ understandings of the use of abusive behaviours within LGB and/or T relationships and their views on the suitability of existing domestic violence perpetrator interventions (designed primarily for heterosexual men) for addressing the abusive behaviour of LGB and/or T individuals, as well as what to find out about the nature of any current provision for LGB and/or T perpetrators and barriers to developing LGB and/or T interventions.

This is a qualitative data collection.

This research comprised a study of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equalities work amongst local authorities which was conducted between March 2008 and September 2009. The field of LGBT equalities work at that time was undergoing a period of rapid change, following the abolishment of Section 28 and fuelled by the introduction of a range of new legislation as well as on-going local government modernisation. This project builds on existing research by exploring the impact of the changing policy environment on LGBT equalities initiatives amongst local authorities and their partner agencies. The research used and developed innovative qualitative Action Learning Set methodologies and interviews with local and national stakeholders.

The aims of the project were: to examine the impact of recent policy changes on the field of LGBT equalities work in local government; to address key conceptual issues concerning [i] processes of resistance and compliance [ii] organisational cultural change [iii] debates concerning citizenship and democracy; to explore the issues affecting LGBT equalities initiatives through case studies in Northern Ireland, Wales and England; to explore the use of innovative Participatory Action Research methods.

Further information about the project and links to publications are available on the ESRC http://www.esrc.ac.uk/my-esrc/grants/RES-062-23-0577/read" title="Organisational Change, Resistance and Democracy: Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Equalities Initiatives">Organisational Change, Resistance and Democracy: Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Equalities Initiatives award webpage.

The United Kingdom was ranked 15th out of 48 European countries in Rainbow Europe's annual LGBTI rights ranking for 2024, with the country receiving a total score of ***** percent. The UK performs well for its LGBTI civil society, which is fully free to operate freely within the country, as well as for its family protections. At the other end, the UK performs poorly on intersex bodily integrity, for which it has few or no legal protections.

According to survey conducted in eight countries, Great Britain is the country where people are more likely to support a family member of a friend who would come out as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. The least supportive countries, on the other hand, seem to be Italy and Germany. In Italy, for instance, some 14 percent of respondents stated to be unsupportive, while in Germany, some 14 percent would oppose their friends or family.

This research project examined the experiences of Irish lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) people living in London. There is a long history of Irish migration to the UK, particularly London. This has coincided historically with many Irish LGBT people feeling compelled to emigrate in search of a more supportive social climate. The appeal of global cities to LGBT people has long been acknowledged. Metropolitan centres are associated with tolerance of sexual diversity and established queer communities. This study will explore Irish queer migrants' reasons for moving to London and experiences there. The research questions will focus on notions of home, identity, belonging, familial relationships and subjectivity. By exploring the relationship between sexuality, ethnicity and diaspora, the study intended to uncover the ways in which contemporary sexual citizenship, migration and queer imaginaries of the metropolis are mutually implicated in complex ways. A qualitative dataset is produced containing interviews with 38 Irish LGBT participants who have been living in London for at least five years. In addition to generating new theoretical work on sexuality and migration, the research findings will be used to inform policy and debate regarding processes of social exclusion.

The Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey (NILT) series began in 1998, and was the successor to the previous Northern Ireland Social Attitudes series, which was discontinued in 1996.
The main aims of the NILT series are:

• to monitor public attitudes towards social policy and political issues in Northern Ireland;
• to provide a time series on attitudes to key social policy areas;
• to facilitate academic social policy analysis;
• to provide a freely available resource on public attitudes for the wider community of users in Northern Ireland.

NILT originally had a companion series which also began in 1998, the Young Life and Times Survey (YLT), although the YLT methodology changed in 2003 and it is conducted separately each year. The Kids' Life and Times (KLT) survey of P7 children (10-11 year olds) is also part of the same suite of surveys as YLT and NILT.

NILT also forms part of the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), although it does not do so every year. Unfortunately, NILT did not run in 2011 due to funding issues, though YLT ran as normal that year; NILT resumed in 2012 (SN 7408). In addition, several open access teaching datasets were created by ARK (Access Research Knowledge) from various years of NILT, covering different topics such as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) issues, politics and community relations, attitudes to ageing and ageism, and dementia.

Further information about the series may be found on the ARK http://www.ark.ac.uk/nilt/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NILT webpage.

The Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey, 2012: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues Teaching Dataset is part of a suite of teaching and learning resources created as part of a Higher Education Academy (HEA) strategic project focusing on teaching research methods. The project Learning by numbers: new open educational resources for teaching quantitative methods involved the creation of new teaching datasets from two major surveys focusing on Northern Ireland, with accompanying 'student-friendly' documentation and teaching guidelines. Specifically, two teaching datasets were created using NILT 2012 (see also SN 7547, which covers politics and good relations) as well as a time-series teaching dataset drawing on the 2003-2012 Young Life and Times (YLT) surveys (see SN 7548). Documentation combining an edited technical report and codebook accompanies the teaching datasets. This documentation includes details of all the variables included in the teaching datasets as well as a summary technical report, with the main issues outlines in accessible language, for example, research design, sampling and response rates. Teaching guidelines drawing upon the particular variables included in the datasets are also available.

This dataset focuses on public attitudes to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) issues in Northern Ireland. It is based on NILT 2012, and adapted for the purposes of this project. Some variables have been constructed and/or simplified for this teaching dataset – notes are provided in the codebook. While the teaching datasets contains the same total number of respondents, they are intended for teaching purposes only; it is advisable to use the original NILT 2012 study (see SN 7408) for research. Further information about the teaching datasets may be found on the ARK Teaching datasets: Learning by numbers webpage.

In 2022, approximately ** percent of Gen Z in Great Britain identified their sexual orientation as being straight, compared with 82 percent of millennials, ** percent of Gen X and ** percent of Baby Boomers. The next most common sexual orientation for Gen Z was Bi, with ten percent of this generation identifying this way.