Transgender people experience greater levels of discrimination, are more pessimistic for the future, and have poorer mental health than other LGBTQIA+ groups.
This is according to a study, “LGBTQ+ Life in the UK: 2026”, Stonewall’s first major report in almost 10 years.
The report, which involved 3,500 lesbian, gay and transgender people, showed higher levels of acceptance and lower levels of discrimination alongside a growing sense of pessimism for the future.
Almost half (48%) of LGBTQIA+ people overall said that acceptance is higher than 10 years ago, but only 26% of trans people said the same. Not surprisingly, while 50% of LGBT people said they were pessimistic about the way LGBTQIA+ equality was going, this pessimism rose to 80% among trans people.
Other key findings included:
- Two-thirds of lesbian, gay and bisexual people were open about their sexuality with their families, and 88% to friends; while 52% of trans people were open with their families, and 85% with friends.
- 93% of lesbian, gay and bisexual people said they were accepted by family and 99% by friends; while 86% of trans people said their families accepted them, and 95% were accepted by their friends.
- Only 18% of people who experienced a potential hate incident in the last year reported it to police, and 54% of those who did felt dissatisfied with the response.
- 64% of trans people reported having experienced indirect transphobic abuse online in the previous month.
- 41% of trans men were challenged on their sex assigned at birth when using single-sex spaces, compared to 32% of trans women, and 11% of lesbians.
- 54% of all LGBT people had ever considered suicide, and 22% had attempted suicide, rising to 71% and 32% for trans people, respectively.
- In the workplace, 11% of LGBT people received negative comments or conduct, and 10% from customers or clients, while 30% of lesbian, gay and bisexual people had hidden their sexual orientation at work and 46% trans people had done so.
According to Simon Blake, the chief executive of Stonewall: “The data in this report should be a wakeup call for all of us. While we have made real progress towards equality for LGBTQ+ people, progress is not the same as arrival… (A)ction is needed – urgently – to address the intolerable situation in which trans+ people… live their lives, as well as a coordinated effort to tackle the root causes of inequality and harm for the whole lesbian, gay, bi, trans+ and queer community.”
