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The Most LGBT-Friendly Cities in the UK
June is LGBT Pride Month, and to mark the occasion we have created a guide to the most LGBT-friendly cities in the UK.
In our newly released Rainbow Cities Index, we have analysed multiple factors including work opportunities, community and social scene, safety and tolerance and dating life, to find the most LGBT-friendly cities in the UK.
Topping our Rainbow Cities list is London, which took the number one spot thanks to its thriving nightlife and social scene, fair working opportunities and its global recognition as one of the most LGBT-friendly cities in the world. Close behind London in our Rainbow Cities Index is Brighton, a city that is world renowned for its vibrant gay village and fantastic nightlife offering. Brighton is also home to a buzzing art and culture scene – having ranked as the UK’s second-most creative city, making it an exciting and lively city to call home.
The northern city of Manchester came in third while in the fourth spot is Glasgow, which has ranked higher than any other Scottish city. Bristol took fifth place while Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Cardiff and Birmingham also featured within the top 10 most-friendly LGBT cities. Belfast ranked as the most LGBT-friendly city in Northern Ireland, ranking in 18th place overall.
Looking more closely at some of the individual factors include in our index, Coventry was found to be the best city for LGBT dating, while both Newcastle and Sunderland are the safest cities for LGBT residents thanks to the low level of hate crimes towards the LGBT community in these cities.
Have a look at our graphic below for a full rundown of the top 26 most LGBT-friendly cities in the UK and the particular areas in which each city really shines for the LGBT community.
Methodology
To create our Rainbow Cities Index ranking of the most LGBT-friendly cities in the UK we utilised various sources to analyse the following factors:
Career
Education
LGBT Events
LGBT Nightlife
Art & Culture
Dating
Safety & Tolerance
Political Representation
Population
Recognition as an equal opportunities city
Recognition as one of the best LGBT cities in the world
For each factor every UK city was awarded a score from 0-5. The score brackets were adjusted for each category to allow equal weighting to each category. The scores across all factors were totalled for each city to find their total final score, and the top scoring 26 cities were awarded a ranking place on the index. Within the graphic of the results we have highlighted the particular factors for which each city scored highest, having received a score of 3+ for these factors. A full breakdown of all data used to create this index is available upon request.
Sources:
https://www.stonewall.org.uk/full-list-top-100-employers-2018
https://www.stonewall.org.uk/sites/default/files/lgbt_in_britain_hate_crime.pdf
https://www.spotahome.com/equality-europe-city-ranking
https://www.silverdoorapartments.com/blog/revealed-25-creative-towns-cities-uk/
https://www.johnpe.art/lgbt-mp/
http://www.gaytimes.co.uk/life/47132/can-guess-best-uk-city-gay-single/
https://www.economist.com/britain/2017/11/09/mapping-gay-life-in-britain
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/sep/17/six-uk-universities-get-top-marks-for-gay-friendliness
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4427710/Map-reveals-Britain-s-gay-capitals.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_villages_in_the_UK
