Sexual orientation inequality in Wales

The facts

One limited survey in 2010 estimated there to be 3,500 LGB people living in Caerphilly; 4,600 for Cardiff; 1,700 for Rhonda Cynon Taff and 700 for Torfaen. The figures for households in the other local authority areas proved not to be robust enough and the majority refused to state their sexuality.

Under reporting for fear of lack of confidentially continues to hinder being able to monitor service provision for many service providers.

LGB adults are around twice as likely to report experiencing unfair treatment, discrimination, bullying or harassment at work than other employees. This is also mirrored in the nature of the queries received by the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s helpline, many of which relate to harassment in the workplace for this group.

Know your rights

Unlawful sexual orientation discrimination happens when someone is treated less favourably due to their sexual orientation, their perceived sexual orientation, or the sexual orientation of those they associate with.

Your sexual orientation means the general attraction you feel towards people of one sex or another (or both). Most people are generally attracted to:

people who are the same sex as them

people who are the opposite sex to them, or

people of both sexes.

Same-sex attraction is called homosexuality. On this site, we call men and women who are homosexual either ‘gay’ (for men) or ‘lesbian’ (for women).

Opposite-sex attraction is called heterosexuality. On this site, we describe people who are heterosexual as ‘straight’.

Both-sex attraction is called bisexuality. On this site, we use the word ‘bisexual’, or occasionally just ‘bi’, to describe people who are attracted to both sexes.