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Take Pride Report - June 2022
Feelings of admiration
Lesbian Gay Bi Trans
Admiration 19% 19% 16% 21%
A significant proportion of the public also feel admiration for our communities. Like respect, admiration
is an actively positive feeling, so it is striking how common this answer is. The pattern here is different,
with the public significantly less likely to say they admire bi people than lesbian, gay or trans people. It’s
worth considering whether this might relate to biphobia in society given that biphobic stereotypes
include the idea that bi people are untrustworthy or unreliable. Feelings of admiration are highest for
trans people, perhaps reflecting public acknowledgement of the challenges faced by trans people living
in the UK today.
Feelings of pity
Lesbian Gay Bi Trans
Pity 7% 7% 7% 15%
Overall, the public is far less likely to pity members of our community than it is to respect or admire
them. However, there is a clear and distinct pattern in responses, with the public twice as likely to say
they feel pity when they think about trans people as compared to lesbian, gay or bi people.
It’s worth noting that pity is ambiguous. We might pity someone because of our beliefs about their
identity, or we might pity them because of our beliefs about what it is like to go through life as a person
with that identity. Put simply, the comparatively high levels of pity for trans people might be driven by
transphobia and/or by concern about the impact of transphobia on trans people.
Feelings of disgust
Lesbian Gay Bi Trans
Disgust 7% 9% 8% 8%
Thankfully, feelings of disgust are not commonplace among members of the public. However, 50 years
after the first pride march on the streets of London, a small but significant cohort of the public feel
actively disgusted by LGBT people. These feelings of disgust are core to homophobia, biphobia and
transphobia, and people who feel this way risk causing harm to LGBT people in their lives.
It is also striking how consistent the picture is across communities. It is thankfully far rarer than it once
was to hear disgust expressed about lesbian, gay or bi people in our public conversation and our press.
But it is commonplace to hear stories about trans people, and in particular trans people’s bodies, that