Most people, if asked to name LGBTQ+ hotspots in the UK, would name Brighton, London and Manchester.
But there’s another unassuming city in the UK which is home to a significant portion of the queer community.
Back in 2021, the census, carried out every 10 years, asked people to record their gender identity and sexuality for the first time.
The figures gave an insight as to where people in the LGBTQ+ community tend to live – and unsurprisingly, Brighton and Hove, Manchester, and areas of London repeatedly popped up.
But Norwich in Norfolk surprised many when it was revealed as the bisexual capital of England and Wales, with 3.89% of its population identifying as bi.
Norwich is also the city with the second-highest population of people who identify as pansexual in England and Wales, with 0.34% of the population using that label to define their sexuality, as well as the third-highest population of asexual people.
Gender identity was covered in a separate census question, with participants asked if their gender is different to their sex at birth.
From those responses, Norwich had the joint sixth-highest population of transgender women, the joint fifth-largest population of trans men, and the second-highest number of non-binary people across England and Wales.
So what is it about the city which seems to have attracted a significant number of LGBTQ+ people to live there?
First of all, Norwich is a university city, and as it tends to be younger people who openly identify as LGBTQ+, it’s not surprising that a city with a student-heavy population would be home to plenty of queer people.
The city has hosted an annual Pride parade for a good few years now, but in 2022 it welcomed its first ever Trans Pride, evolving from a number of other activist groups.
The committee of Norwich Trans Pride told Metro that they had an ‘amazingly positive response’ when they set up their first events.
They added: ‘Of course we’ve had our share of detractors, as every pride group does, but Norwich is an overwhelmingly kind and forward-thinking city.
‘We are totally separate from Norwich Pride, though we have a lot of similar goals: the thought behind a separate Trans Pride is to highlight the struggles, and the joys, faced by trans people as a subset of the queer community.
‘Some of our experiences are shared with the queer community as a whole, but others are distinct to us, and in a time where our rights are often used as a political ping-pong ball, it’s vital that trans people see positivity around our identities, particularly trans youth.
‘No trans person deserves to feel alone or unsupported.’
Projects set up by Norwich Trans Pride include a community wardrobe where people can swap clothes, useful for newly-out trans people or those with a limited budget, and a Trans Day of Visibility art gallery.
Other LGBTQ+ groups and projects within the city include the Trans Quilt project, a queer international film festival, a mature gay social group which meets three times a month, the Proud Canaries (who are LGBTQ+ fans of Norwich City FC), and the Sing with Pride choir.
But what is it about Norwich which makes it a ‘fantastic’ place to be queer?
‘We have a well-established community here including people of all ages and labels, and individuals as well as businesses are, on the whole, very accepting and positive towards queer people,’ the Norwich Trans Pride committee said.
‘The fact that we have two universities also helps, as it means we have a constant influx of new people, often young adults in the process of exploring their identities.
‘People who come to Norwich see how accepting it is, and may find that it challenges and alters their own thoughts about the LGBTQIA+ community as a whole.
‘As a queer person in Norwich, I love the fact that I can walk down the street and see so much diversity.
‘Of course there are some people here who are opposed to LGBTQIA+ rights, and those views unfortunately exist everywhere, but the fact is that good, kind people outnumber them.
‘This is proven time and time again by the attendance at pro-queer protests, the brazenness with which both big and small businesses here proclaim their support for our community, and even the stickers you see on the signposts.
‘Every event that we organise is well-attended, by trans and cis people alike, whether it’s a casual meetup or a protest for our rights.’
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