Sexual orientation and gender identity

In the 2021 Census people were asked questions about sexual orientation and gender identity for the first time. This creates new baseline figures for Cumbria.

Overall, the numbers of people identifying as Gay or Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender were close to the national average, and higher than most county-level authority areas. 

Sexual orientation

Of 420,000 people aged 16 and over, 93.5% answered the 2021 Census question about sexual orientation; this was slightly higher than the national average (92.5%).

91.1% identified as straight or heterosexual (compared to national average of 89.4%).

2.3% identified as gay or lesbian (1.2% versus national 1.5%), bisexual (0.9% versus national 1.3%) and ‘other sexual orientation’ (0.2% versus national 0.3%).

Gender identity

Of Cumbria’s 420,000 usual residents aged 16 and over, 95.1% answered the 2021 Census question about gender identity; this was slightly higher than the national average (94%).

Compared to the national average, Cumbria had a slightly higher proportion of people who answered “Yes”, indicating that their gender identity was the same as their sex registered at birth (94.7% vs. national 93.5%).

Inversely, Cumbria had a marginally lower proportion of people who answered “No”, indicating that their gender identity was different from their sex registered at birth but did not provide a write-in response (0.1% vs. national 0.2%).

Finally, Cumbria had the same proportion as the national average in relation to people who identified as a trans man (0.1%), identified as a trans woman (0.1%) and who wrote in a different gender identity (0.1%).

Office for National Statistics overview of Gender Identity and Sex the Census 2021

Nationally the following identifiable trends have been highlighted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS):

• people aged 16 to 24 years were the most likely age group to have said that their gender identity was different from their sex registered at birth (in this article we refer to people in this category as being trans), with 1.00% identifying as such
• a similar proportion of people who answered the sex question as female (0.52%) and male (0.56%) identified as trans
• across all age groups, there were a higher proportion of people who identified as trans in England than in Wales

Gender identity: age and sex, England and Wales - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)

Government Equalities Office National LGBT Survey July 2018

Data on disparities for Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity are less easily available than for many other protected characteristics. The most recent large-scale survey was completed by the Government Equalities Office in 2018. 

National LGBT Survey: Research report (GOV.UK)

Disparities in overall satisfaction

LGBT respondents are less satisfied with their life than the general UK population (rating satisfaction 6.5 on average out of 10 compared with 7.7). Trans respondents had particularly low scores (around 5.4 out of 10).

Disparities in community safety

More than two thirds of LGBT respondents said they avoid holding hands with a same-sex partner for fear of a negative reaction from others.

At least two in five respondents had experienced an incident because they were LGBT, such as verbal harassment or physical violence, in the 12 months preceding the survey. However, more than nine in ten of the most serious incidents went unreported, often because respondents thought ‘it happens all the time’.

Mental Health disparities

24% of respondents had accessed mental health services in the 12 months preceding the survey.

Homelessness disparities

69% of young LGBT homeless people were rejected by their parents and suffered abuse within the family.

LGBTQ+ young people (2016 survey)

A study by Queer Futures in 2016 explored mental health and wellbeing outcomes for LGBTQ+ young people. It sought to understand why higher rates of self-harm and suicidal feelings are experienced and how and when young people reach out for help. Their findings include the following:

• over 70% of young people experienced discrimination, bullying, rejection, physical and verbal violence, threats and/ or other forms of marginalisation related to their sexual orientation and gender identity
• those who experienced abuse or negative interactions due to their sexual orientation were 1.55 times more likely to plan or attempt suicide than those who had not. Those who reported feeling affected by abuse related to their sexual orientation and gender identity were 2.18 times more likely to plan or attempt suicide than those unaffected
• over three quarters of participants had asked for help from at least one source, but nearly a quarter had not asked for help from anyone, online or offline. Results indicated that LGBT young people most often looked for help when they were at crisis point; i.e. when they felt that they were not coping, or could not go on with how they were feeling
• the most commonly chosen reason for not asking for help was ‘I didn’t want to be seen as attention seeking’ (49.5%), followed by ‘I did not want them to worry about me’ (43.5%). Just under one quarter of participants selected ‘I did not want anyone to know about my sexual orientation/ gender identity’. The strongest predictor of asking for help was whether the participant had self-harmed.

Read more on the Queer Futures website

Implications for public services

Transgender inclusion will require changes to service design and delivery, monitoring that allows for flexible gender identity, building designs that include non-binary changing and toilet facilities, policies that support culture change towards living a more gender fluid society.

Services for children and young people will see increasing numbers of people identifying as LGBT+ and professionals working with LGBT+ young people will need to have a strong understanding of their lived experience.

Support for LGBT+ community organisations and a greater emphasis on community belonging and addressing homophobia and transphobia will need to become a more integral part of wider community engagement and development strategies.

A greater focus will be required on understanding the health, housing and wider socio-economic disparities experienced by LGBT+ people.

To address LGBT+ disparities and the lack of national baseline material, more localised research would be required that involved professionals and members of the LGBT+ community working together.