MOST LGBTQ+ FRIENDLY LOCATIONS REVEALED
At Jecca Blac, we pride ourselves on the connection and community we have built with you, our customers; makeup wearers of all genders, identities, expressions, abilities, ethnicities, shapes and sizes! With so many members of our community being LGBTQ+, we see first-hand how ‘friendly’ areas are to the LGBTQ+ community - and how this impacts our community's living conditions.
Shocking national research recently revealed that one in five LGBT people (21%) have experienced a hate crime or incident due to their sexual orientation and/or gender identity in the last 12 months alone. When discussing incidents further we found that three in 10 LGBT people (29%) avoid certain streets because they do not feel safe, and one in six (17%) have been discriminated against when visiting a café, restaurant, bar or nightclub.*
In 2019 there were an estimated 1.2 million people aged 16+ identifying as LGB in the UK and a higher proportion of people in London (2.8%) identified as LGB than any other regions of England**. When comparing these findings to the last 20 years, we can see that this number is continually rising, demonstrating the need for more LGBTQ+ inclusion across the UK, and the world.
It is heart-breaking to know so many of you have experienced an incident or hate crime when out in public just due to your sexual orientation or identity. Therefore, following these findings and in parallel with the easing of lockdown, we wanted to create an index combining the best and most supportive cities in the UK for anyone LGBTQ+ for anyone who is looking for inspiration on where to travel as the world begins to re-open.
To compile and rank our top ten we have analysed data from four different categories including; the number of LGBTQ+ supporting events, establishments/businesses/venues, pride attendance and statistics available on LGBTQ+ Population. Each location was then ranked out of 10 for each category and was given an overall score out of 40 on how LGBTQ+ friendly they are.
The 10 cities that are the most LGBTQ+ friendly in the UK are:
London topped the list across three of the four categories scoring 10 points for LGBTQ+ Events, Pride Attendance and Establishments. Brighton however scored top for population with 11% of residents identifying as LGBTQ+.
As well as analysing UK cities, we also wanted to explore worldwide data across the four categories, along with looking into research data into local laws and living conditions***, to reveal the most LGBTQ+ friendly countries across the globe, with abroad holidays hopefully on the horizon again.
The 10 countries that are the most LGBTQ+ friendly worldwide are:
- Canada
- Malta
- Sweden
- Austria
- Argentina
- Netherlands
- Spain
- United Kingdom
- Uruguay
- Denmark
After this pandemic, the last thing anyone wants to do is be confined to their homes, and no one should ever feel like they cannot be themselves in public due to their gender or identity, therefore we really hope our list proves useful and can help you build your post lockdown bucket list!
*https://www.stonewall.org.uk/lgbt-britain-hate-crime-and-discrimination
