LGBTQ+

According to the 2021 Census, 0.5% of people living in Wakefield District (aged 16+) said their gender identity is different from the sex they were registered at birth, which is similar to the regional and national levels.

2.7% of people living in Wakefield District (aged 16+) said their sexual orientation is not heterosexual, which is slightly lower than the regional (3.0%) and national (3.2%) levels.

NB: it is not possible to simply combine gender identity and sexual orientation percentages for a total LGBTQ+ proportion as some individuals may sit in both cohorts.

This section contains data from the Wakefield 2023 Adult Population Health Survey and the 2024 School Health Survey.

How to use the dashboard
There are 2 parts to the dashboard ‘Adults’ and ‘Year 12’ which refer to data from the Adult Survey or the School survey, use the ‘Demographic Information’ and ‘Outcome’ buttons on the bottom to navigate between them.
Use the ‘Inequality selection’ slicer to filter the Demographic Information visualisation and use the ‘Category’ slicer followed by the ‘Measure’ slicer to filter the Outcomes visualisations.

Environment

• Overall, 5.8% of adults identify as LGBTQ+ in Wakefield. The percentage of people identifying as LGBTQ+ is higher in younger age groups. 17.1% of the Year 12 students (16-17 year-old) population identified as LGBTQ+ in the school health survey 2024.
• There were no significant differences in the proportion of LGBTQ+ individuals across ethnicity, deprivation or sexes. When looking at age group, there is a correlation between younger adults and a higher percentage of people identifying as LGBTQ+.
• LGBTQ+ Year 12 students were significantly more likely than non-LGBTQ+ Year 12 students to say they feel unsafe in the area they live (23.9%), at school (10.3%) and at home (7.7%).
• LGBTQ+ Year 12 students were significantly more likely than non-LGBTQ+ Year 12 students to say ‘Yes’ (14.8%) they have ever experienced not being able to buy period products because they couldn’t afford them.

Mental Health

Respondents in the surveys were asked to describe their experience in relation to a list of statements about thoughts and feelings. The answers to those questions allowed a score for mental wellbeing to be created.

• LGBTQ+ adults were significantly less likely than non-LGBTQ+ adults to have a ‘high mental wellbeing’ score (3.6%), as were LGBTQ+ Year 12 students (1.2%).
• LGBTQ+ adults were more likely to say ‘Yes’ (43.6%), they have experienced distressing events in childhood.
• LGBTQ+ adults were more likely than non-LGBTQ+ adults to say their main concern is their ‘specific health issues’ (46.8%), their ‘health and wellbeing in general’ (23.7%), ‘difficulties in the workplace’ (11.9%) and ‘crime/policing’ (7.7%). They were significantly less likely to say ‘children’s/grandchildren’s future’ (0.5%) and ‘no concerns’ (13.7%).
• Over half of LGBTQ+ adults said they had thoughts about harming themselves. Around a third said they had never acted on those thoughts and around a third said they have acted on those thoughts. This was significantly higher than non-LGBTQ+ adults.
• 42.0% of LGBTQ+ Year 12 students said they were ‘Happy’ (quite happy or very happy) when asked how happy they feel with their life at the moment, this is significantly lower than non-LGBTQ+ respondents of the same age (57.7%).
• When asked how often they feel lonely, three quarters of LGBTQ+ Year 12 students said some or most of the time, this was significantly higher than the proportion of non-LGBTQ+ respondents (52.2%).
• When asked how optimistic they feel about a list of topics, LGBTQ+ Year 12 students were significantly less optimistic about the future when thinking about; relationships with family (79.0%), relationships with friends (78.6%), accommodation (70.6%), their health (66.9%), job prospects (63.1%), having enough money (51.3%) and climate change (21.6%).
• LGBTQ+ Year 12 students were significantly more likely than non-LGBTQ+ respondents to say they worry ‘a lot or quite a lot’ about; school/exams (64.9%), the way they look (64.5%), relationships (40.5%), family problems (37.2%), money (34.9%), problems with friends (33.3%), and climate change (23.1%).
• The SCOFF questionnaire is a five-question screening tool designed to indicate that an eating disorder might exist. A score of 2 or more indicates suspicion of an eating disorder. LGBTQ+ Year 12 students were significantly more likely than non-LGBTQ+ individuals to have a SCOFF score of 2 or more (66.1%).
• LGBTQ+ Year 12 students were significantly more likely to say they had been bullied inside school/college (58.4%), outside school/college (31.9%) and online (31.9%). LGBTQ+ respondents were significantly more likely than non-LGBTQ+ respondents to say ‘Yes’ they think they’ve been bullied because of their; sexual orientation (47.6%), weight (44.3%), clothes (39.0%), disability (19.2%), and gender identity (18.9%).

Physical health and Behaviours

• LGBTQ+ adults were less likely than non-LGBTQ+ adults to say their health in general is ‘Good’ (49.5%). When asked if they currently have any health conditions, there were no significant differences between LGBTQ+ members and non-LGBTQ+ members and they answered in a similar way. However, when breaking down by age, the 35-65 age group did show significant differences, in that age group the LGBTQ+ group were more likely to say ‘yes’ they currently have a health condition (89.2%).
• LGBTQ+ adults were significantly more likely than non-LGBTQ+ adults to say they have ‘A lot of problems accessing support’ for their conditions (27.8%). This supports what is already known about the community often facing barriers when accessing services with services typically being seen as predominantly hetero-normative and cis-normative.
• When asked about how much and how often they drink alcohol, the most prevalent answer for both adults groups was ‘Low risk drinker’. However, LGBTQ+ adults were significantly more likely to be a ‘higher risk drinker’ (9.0%) than the non-LGBTQ+ group. When breaking this down by age, the 35-64 age group were the only age group that showed significant differences.
• LGBTQ+ adults were significantly more likely to be a drug ‘user’ (13.3%) than non-LGBTQ+ individuals. ‘User’ combines people that said they use drugs less than once a month, at least monthly and at least weekly, for the following drugs; Cannabis, cocaine (powder), ecstasy/MDMA, nitrous oxide, ketamine, image enhancing drugs, prescription drugs, synthetic cannabinoids, amphetamine, crack cocaine and heroin. Please note, ‘users’ of this broad list of drugs and range of frequencies may have very different experiences and needs.
• LGBTQ+ adults were more likely to be a ‘User’ (21.3%) of tobacco products than non-LGBTQ+ adults. A similar picture can be seen when looking at vaping.
• There were no significant differences when looking at whether Year 12 students smoked, vaped or thought it was OK for people their age to smoke or vape when comparing LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ groups. There were also no significant differences when comparing the frequency of alcohol consumption or drug use.

Diet & physical activity

• There were no significant differences when comparing the BMI category of LGBTQ+ Year 12 students and non-LGBTQ+ Year 12 students.
• Year 12 students were asked ‘What stops you from being more active?’, they were able to tick as many options as applied to them. LGBTQ+ respondents were significantly more likely than non-LGBTQ+ respondents to experience all barriers to being more active, including worries about looking silly, not having the time and not being bothered.
• LGBTQ+ Year 12 students were significantly more likely than non-LGBTQ+ individuals, to say that they would like to lose weight (64.5%) and that they would consider cosmetic surgery (25.1%).

Sexual Health

• When asked about their views on accessing free STI testing, LGBTQ+ Year 12 students, compared to non-LGBTQ+ Year 12 students, were more likely to say ‘I’m worried my parents/carers might find out’ (20.2%), ‘I’m embarrassed about going’ (18.7%) and ‘I’m nervous/scared to go’ (18.7%). This supports what we know about LGBTQ+ individuals experiencing barriers when accessing health care.
• A quarter of LGBTQ+ Year 12 students said they ‘agree’ that they have felt pressure to have sex, this was significantly higher than the proportion of non-LGBTQ+ respondents that said the same. There was no significant difference in the proportion that have or haven’t had sex and no significant difference in the proportion saying they feel confident establishing consent with a potential sexual partner.