ISSUES
: Sexuality and Gender
40
Key facts/Glossary
Asexual/asexuality
A person who has no (or very low) sexual feelings, desires
or attraction to anyone. However, just because someone
isn’t sexually attracted to anyone does not mean they
cannot be romantically attracted to others (e.g. seeking a
relationship for love and companionship that isn’t sexual).
Bisexual
Someone who defines themselves as bisexual or ‘bi’
is attracted to people of either sex. While a bisexual
person may be equally attracted to men and women, this
does not have to be the case: they may feel a stronger
attraction to one sex than the other, or feel attraction to
different sexes at different points in their lives.
Civil partnership
The Civil Partnership Act 2004 (CPA) allowed LGB
people the right to form legal partnerships for the first
time, giving them rights comparable to those of married
couples. A civil partnership is a new legal relationship,
exclusively for same-sex couples, distinct from marriage.
Coming out
‘Coming out’ happens when an LGB person feels ready to
tell their friends and family about their sexual orientation.
As heterosexuality is the most common sexual orientation,
those close to them will probably have assumed they were
straight. Coming out is a big step for most gay people,
especially if they fear a negative reaction from some people.
It is quite common for gay people to not be fully ‘out’, and
only let certain people know about their sexuality.
Gender dysphoria
Sometimes known as a gender identity disorder or
transgenderism, gender dysphoria is a where a person feels
strongly that there is a mismatch between their biological
sex (their body) and gender identity (their emotional and
psychological identity) – a person may experience distress
Key facts
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At least 76 countries have laws in effect that
criminalise
private,
consensual
same-sex
relationships, and in at least five countries
conviction may carry the death penalty. (page 2)
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Research suggests 1% of the population (more
women than men) are asexual. (page 6)
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One in two young people say they are not 100%
heterosexual. (page 7)
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72% of the British public place themselves at
the completely heterosexual end of the Kinsey
scale, while 4% put themselves at the completely
homosexual end and 19% say they are somewhere
in between – classed as bisexual in varying
degrees. (page 7)
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For the men that took our survey, the average age
to realise they were LGBTI was 15, and the average
age to come out was 19. On average, women
tended to realise slightly later at age 16, but come
out a bit sooner at age 18. (page 10)
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The most common reason given for not being
completely out of the closet was the worry that
other people might treat them differently once they
found out (37%). (page 10)
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55% of people surveyed thought LGBTI-inclusive
sex education would help young LGBTI people
build up courage to come out to their friends and
family. However, only 12% thought they received
enough LGBTI-inclusive sex education in school. A
considerable 53% weren’t taught any at all. (page 11)
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Many non-binary people feel that current media
coverage misses the mark, with 80% of those Trans
Media Watch spoke to describing it as bad or very
bad. 74% said that they think this is a subject the
media knows nothing about. (page 21)
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Each year, one in every 2,000 babies – or 0.05
per cent of the world’s population – is born with
ambiguous sex organs. (page 22)
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Stonewall estimated there are 215,000 LGB school
pupils. As a result of anti-LGB bullying, 52,000 of
these pupils will truant from school; 37,000 will
change their future education plans; and 70,000 will
suffer deterioration in their school work. (page 23)
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The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs
reported that on homicides of transgender or gender-
nonconforming people. In the UK by November 2015,
the number had already reached 22 (compared to 12
in 2014 and 13 in 2013). (page 25)
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98 per cent of gay pupils hear ‘that’s so gay’ or
‘you’re so gay’ at school. 97 per cent of gay pupils
hear derogatory phrases such as ‘dyke’ or ‘poof’
used in school. (page 28)
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Only seven per cent of teachers are reported to respond
every time they hear homophobic language. (page 29)
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As of 11 December 2015, there had been 1,825
adoptions by LGBT people in Great Britain since
reporting began. (page 31)
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GLAAD research found that out of 102 major studio
releases in 2013, only 17 contained identifiable
LGBT characters. (page 34).
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An estimated 50,000–100,000men were convicted under
Britain’s anti-gay laws during the 20th century. (page 39)
Glossary
Disclaimer:
Please note that this is not an exhaustive list and that terminology
is evolving all the time and so definitions may change in the future.
