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LGBT facts and figures

Health

  • A quarter (24 per cent) of patient-facing staff have heard colleagues make negative remarks about lesbian, gay or bi people
  • One in five (20 per cent) have heard similar disparaging remarks about trans people
  • Almost one in 10 (nine per cent) health and social care staff are aware of colleagues experiencing discrimination or poor treatment because they are trans
  • A quarter (26 per cent) of lesbian, gay and bi staff say they have personally experienced bullying or poor treatment from colleagues in the last five years as a result of their sexual orientation
  • Nearly half (48 per cent) of trans people under 26 said they had attempted suicide, and 30 per cent said they had done so in the past year, while 59 per cent said they had at least considered doing so

 

Hate crime

  • One in six lesbian, gay and bi people have experienced a homophobic or biphobic hate crime or incident over the last three years
  • Two-thirds of those experiencing a hate crime or incident did not report it to anyone
  • Fewer than one in 10 victims who reported hate crimes and incidents to the police said it led to a conviction
  • A quarter (26 per cent) of lesbian, gay and bi people alter their behaviour to hide their sexual orientation to avoid being the victim of a hate crime
  • 38 per cent of trans people have experienced physical intimidation and threats and 81 per cent have experienced silent harassment (e.g. being stared at/whispered about)

 

At work

  • One in five (19 per cent) lesbian, gay and bi employees have experienced verbal bullying from colleagues, customers or service users because of their sexual orientation in the last five years
  • One in eight (13 per cent) lesbian, gay and bi employees would not feel confident reporting homophobic bullying in their workplace
  • A quarter (26 per cent) of lesbian, gay and bi workers are not at all open to colleagues about their sexual orientation
  • Nearly half (42 per cent) of trans people are not living permanently in their preferred gender role stated they are prevented from doing so because they fear it might threaten their employment status
  • Over 10 per cent of trans people experienced being verbally abused and six per cent were physically assaulted at work. As a consequence of harassment and bullying, a quarter of trans people will feel obliged to change their jobs

 

Education

  • More than half (55 per cent) of lesbian, gay and bi pupils have experienced direct bullying
  • Almost all (99 per cent) gay young people hear the phrases ‘that’s so gay’ or ‘you’re so gay’ in school and 96 per cent of gay pupils hear homophobic language such as ‘poof’ or ‘lezza’
  • Almost a third of lesbian, gay and bi pupils are ignored or isolated by other people
  • Two in five (41 per cent) have attempted or thought about taking their own life directly because of bullying and the same number say that they deliberately self-harm directly because of bullying
  • 59 per cent of trans youth said they had deliberately hurt themselves, compared with 8.9 per cent of all 16- to 24-year-olds

 

International

  • Since 1990, 40 countries have decriminalised homosexuality and over 30 have outlawed homophobic hate crimes. As of 2015, over 60 countries legally protect LGBT people at work and 15 recognise same-sex marriage
  • Sex with someone of the same sex is illegal in 73 countries, and punishable by death in ten. That means 40 per cent of the world’s population live in countries where gay, lesbian and bisexual people can be imprisoned, just for being themselves. Over 400 million people live under laws which punish same-sex sex with the death penalty
  • Almost half (46 per cent) of the LGBT people killed in the Americas in 2013-2014 were trans women
  • Between 2008 and 2014, there were 1,612 trans people were murdered across 62 countries – equivalent to a killing every two days
  • One in 12 trans people in Europe experience violent hate crime each year

 

Sport

  • Seven in 10 football fans who’ve attended a match have heard or witnessed homophobia on the terraces
  • Three in five fans believe anti-gay abuse from fans dissuades gay professional players from coming out
  • Over half of football fans think the Football Association, the Premier League and the Football League are not doing enough to tackle anti-gay abuse
  • 17 per cent of lesbian, gay, bi and trans people have experienced and 49 per cent have witnessed homophobia or transphobia in sport.
  • 66 per cent of lesbian, gay, bi and trans people felt that there were problems with homophobia and transphobia in sport and that this acted as a barrier to LGBT people taking part.