Today the census published data on sexual orientation and gender identity for the first time. Census participants were asked “Is the gender you identify with the same as your sex registered at birth?”
94.0% of the population aged 16 years and over answered the question, 93.5% answered yes, 0.5% answered no (equivalent to 262,000 people in England and Wales). This is one in every 200 adults, fairly close to the previous unofficial estimate I had of one in 300.
Those who indicated that their gender identity was different from their sex registered at birth were asked a follow-up write-in question which only half of them answered:
0.1% identified as a trans man (approximately 48,000 people)
0.1% identified as a trans woman (48,000)
0.06% identified as non-binary (30,000)
0.04% wrote in a different gender identity (18,000).
Whilst we are now a little bit clearer about the size of the trans population, as the question was optional, and non-response was significant, we still don’t have a precise answer. Perhaps we need to recognise that some people don’t want their identity to be pinned down.
Full results are available on the Census website, which provides regional data as well.
Eight out of the 10 local authorities with the largest proportion of the population whose gender identity was different from their sex at birth were in London. Newham and Brent topped the list. The top two non-London local authorities were Oxford and Norwich. Brighton and Hove, Norwich and Cambridge had the highest proportions writing in non-binary.
For many of us these results will come as no surprise, given that we will have one or two trans people in our wider circle of friends and acquaintances. Generally their gender identity is immaterial in most circumstances. In my own case this includes someone I buy diesel from at the local garage and someone else who has been part of the local anti-lockdown campaign. We have never discussed their gender identity and have no reason to do so.
In the past year I have, however, encountered a larger number of people angrily accusing others of being fascists whilst proclaiming ‘trans rights are human rights’. At a Women’s Rights rally in Brighton last September the people who had come to listen to speakers talking about the importance of single sex spaces and other topics were separated from a group of protestors by a police cordon. The protestors were standing up for ‘trans rights’ and tried to drown out the speakers. Many were masked; some were dressed ‘antifa -like’ entirely in black.
Read More: National Census: Only 0.2% of the Population Define Themselves as ‘Trans’