That's how many LGBTQ+ people there are living in England and Wales today. And we know this, because, for the first time in over 200 years, we were officially counted as part of the Census. It's a truly historic moment for our communities - after years of invisibility, we are now officially part of our country's story. 

But the benefits of LGBTQ+ visibility go beyond recordkeeping. As more people have had the opportunity to learn about our lives, attitudes have changed, allowing us all to write new, more colourful chapters in our country's story. 

Over the last few decades, we have seen a steady increase in social acceptance of lesbian, gay and bi relationships, and a steady increase in the percentage of the population who identify as lesbian, gay, bi or trans. And our Rainbow Britain report shows that today, we are a country that is fiercely proud to be inclusive. Thanks to your allyship, we’re increasingly free to be ourselves - in every area of our lives.

But we’ve always been here. We’ve worked in every sector, and lived in every town and village. Some of us have played crucial roles in driving cultural and political movements, and others have been pillars in even the sleepiest communities.

Despite oppressive laws and societal discrimination, LGBTQ+ people have persisted, and we’ve resisted. We’ve always found one another, inspired one another, and broken barriers to provide visibility for others. And it’s partly this visibility that has allowed more LGBTQ+ people to be openly themselves in the UK in the last two decades.

2023. This year marks 20 years since Section 28, the law that banned “promotion of homosexuality” in the UK, was repealed. It was an attack on LGBTQ+ visibility, and together we resisted. And we’ve made progress in leaps and bounds since. But with parts of our community still under attack, we must remember why we can’t go back, and come together to keep moving forward.

This LGBT+ History Month, let’s learn from our past and keep standing in solidarity to make history for our communities!