Ahead of Lesbian Visibility Week 2024, DIVA investigates the reality behind the headlines
BY NANCY KELLEY, IMAGE BY GETTY IMAGES VIA CANVA
Over recent years it has become increasingly common for trans-hostile commentators, journalists, lobbyists and even politicians to voice their “concerns” that the lesbian community in the UK is disappearing, or somehow being erased by a growing trans community.
Should we be worried? Are lesbians really disappearing?
Thankfully, we’ve got some really good data available to help us with answering this question, in the form of the Census, and the Annual Population Survey (APS). Both sources cover England and Wales and have data on respondents’ sexual orientation. What do they show?
Census 2021
The Census data tells us that women are more likely than men to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or another minority sexual orientation.
The percentage of gay men in the population is higher than the percentage of lesbians – 1.95% of men in England and Wales identified as gay in the Census, compared to 1.15% of women who identified as lesbian. But women are more than twice as likely to identify as bisexual – just 0.78% of men in England and Wales identified as bi, compared to 1.76% of women. Women were also more likely to identify as pansexual, asexual, or queer.
The Census tells us about sexual orientation across generations. And what it shows very clearly is that younger women are more likely to identify as LGBQ+ when you compare with older generations. Amongst the under 35s, girls and women are more likely to come out than boys and men (reversing the pattern in the older generation).
Annual Population Survey
The APS data helps us understand more about how this picture is changing over time. What it shows us is a picture of steady growth for the LGBTQIA community.
And although like the Census, APS data shows the percentage of bisexual women rising more rapidly, the percentage of women who identify as lesbian has also increased. In fact, between 2014 and 2022, the number of respondents in the APS that identified as lesbian rose by 64%.
So, there are more out LGBQ+ women than there have ever been, there are more out lesbians than there have ever been, and young women are much more likely to be out than older ones. We aren’t disappearing – we are blossoming!
Why does this matter?
Over the last few years commentators, journalists, lobbyists and even politicians have been suddenly very keen to talk about lesbians. But they aren’t talking about the barriers we still face to coming out, or feeling safe in school, or forming a family, surviving hate crime, building a career, or ageing happily. They aren’t really talking about us at all. Cis lesbians like me are being used as a stick to hurt trans people in a way that flies in the face of how we feel.
Trans people deserve better, and so do lesbians – all of us – cis and trans. We should absolutely be talking and thinking about LGBTQIA women and non-binary people more. Policy makers should care about us more and we should have more resources invested in understanding our community and meeting its needs. We should be uplifted and celebrated. We should be visible.
Lesbian Visibility Week
22 April – 28 April 2024
This Lesbian Visibility Week we will be celebrating the power of sisterhood by uplifting incredible LGBTQIA women and non-binary people from every generation, in every field and in every country around the world. One community, so many brilliant individuals. This year we are building on Lesbian Visibility Week’s incredible success with unified not uniform – a global campaign celebrating the power and diversity of our community. As ever, our aims are to build public understanding of LGBTQIA women and non-binary people’s lives, to increase lesbian visibility and to create a legacy that benefits our community everywhere.
You can find out more and get involved at: lesbianvisibilityweek.com
DIVA magazine celebrates 30 years in print in 2024. If you like what we do, then get behind LGBTQIA media and keep us going for another generation. Your support is invaluable.