The LGB Alliance has promoted survey findings suggesting that most lesbian, gay and bisexual people are uncomfortable with the LGBTQ+ umbrella, despite the research being conducted exclusively among the organisation’s own supporters.
A recent post on X claimed that 94 per cent of lesbian, gay and bisexual people felt uncomfortable being categorised under the LGBTQ+ umbrella, while 87 per cent objected to being described as “queer”.
However, those figures cannot be applied to lesbian, gay and bisexual people generally. The organisation’s own report explicitly states that its findings represent only LGB supporters of the LGB Alliance and “are not generalisable to the LGB population in the UK as a whole”.
Survey Was Sent Only to LGB Alliance Supporters
The report, titled Don’t Call Me Queer, is based on a survey conducted in May 2023 rather than new research undertaken this year.
A link was emailed to 7,021 people who had subscribed to the LGB Alliance newsletter, attended at least one of its events or donated to the charity.
The survey received 2,133 responses. Participants were then asked whether they supported the LGB Alliance and whether they were lesbian, gay or bisexual.
Anyone who said they were not a supporter, did not know or preferred not to answer was removed. Respondents who supported the group but were not LGB were also screened out, leaving a final sample of 1,709 LGB Alliance supporters.
The report’s landing page told participants that the research was intended “to help us understand the attitudes that LGB Alliance supporters have around common terms used to categorise LGB people”.
It added: “The findings of this survey will help us advocate more effectively for the needs of LGB people.”
Findings Reflect the Organisation’s Existing Audience
Among the 1,709 selected respondents, 94 per cent said they felt either “quite uncomfortable” or “very uncomfortable” being included under the LGBTQ+ umbrella.
Seventy-one per cent were very uncomfortable and 23 per cent were quite uncomfortable. Two per cent said they were either quite or very comfortable, while the remainder expressed no strong view.
The survey also found that 87 per cent of respondents felt quite or very uncomfortable being categorised as “queer”.
Seventy-one per cent said they were very uncomfortable with the term and 16 per cent were quite uncomfortable. Eight per cent were neutral, while four per cent were either quite or very comfortable.
These findings describe the views of people who had already supported, attended events organised by or donated to a group that campaigns to separate lesbian, gay and bisexual advocacy from transgender and queer issues.
They do not provide a representative measurement of attitudes among the wider LGB population.
Supporters Submit Written Responses
Participants were also invited to explain their views in their own words.
One respondent claimed the LGBTQ+ umbrella “negatively impacts on [his] rights as a gay man”.
Another wrote: “I still believe that LGB folk have still to fight for equality and recognition. The umbrella subsumes us and the movement seems to now be totally focused on the TQI community. I support their rights, but their fight is different from mine. It feels like they jumped on our coattails but somehow managed to grab the steering wheel.”
A further response stated: “Q+ has been hijacked by people who are likely heterosexual but want to be seen as ‘different’.”
The report said the open-ended responses were not formally coded or analysed. Instead, it presented a selected collection of anonymous comments.
Social Media Users Challenge the Presentation
Several X users criticised the LGB Alliance for promoting the percentages without clearly stating that the respondents were supporters of the organisation.
“‘We asked people who paid money to us if they have the same views as us. SHockingly they all said yes!’” one person wrote.
Another said: “You’ve gotta laugh. Read the small print and you’ll discover that the LGB Alliance only came to these figures because they deliberately screened out any gays, lesbians and bisexuals who weren’t supporters of the LGB Alliance. What were they scared of?”
A third added: “You surveyed members of your own group, and are being intentionally misleading by not including that key piece of information in your post.”
The survey may accurately describe the attitudes of participating LGB Alliance supporters. However, presenting those results as the views of lesbian, gay and bisexual people generally omits the most important limitation of the research: its respondents were drawn from a highly specific, self-selecting audience already connected to the organisation.
