Cornwall deemed one of the most transphobic places in UK, but its LGBT+ community say otherwise
A rainbow over surfers at Towan Beach in Newquay, Cornwall. (ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images)
New data suggesting that Cornwall is the worst place to live in the UK if you are transgender is being vigorously disputed by the LGBT+ community who actually live there.
Parts of Cornwall are the least supportive areas to live in the country for trans, including non-binary, people, the research found.
But Cornwall’s LGBT+ community say this is not the case, according to Cornwall Live.
The Cornish community are not against trans, including non-binary, people, but just don’t fully understand what it means to be trans, said the chairman of Cornwall Pride, Matthew Kenworthy-Gomes.
Respondents to a survey by UnHerd were asked how much they agreed with the statement “it is acceptable for adolescent children to make their own decisions about their gender identity”.
Up to 35% of Cornish respondents disagreed with the statement.
“What can help and support that is just more awareness and as the awareness increases, acceptance will increase,” said Kenworthy-Gomes.
“Cornwall Pride values and strengthens two ideas and that is to love who you want to love and be who you want to be,” he said.
“That’s the hope that Cornwall as a community and as a Duchy can shine across the rest of the country.
“It is still really difficult. There is still the stigma and the challenges. The prejudices are still there because it is still a minority.
“The transgender community has been so vilified and targeted that those in the community find it even more of a struggle to come out and be free.”
Pixie Swarbrick, co-founder and chair of Safe Haven, an organisation that supports trans people in Cornwall, agreed.
“I don’t think Cornwall is any less accepting than anywhere else and certainly not from what we have found,” Swarbrick said.
Swarbrick added: “I have spoken to people who don’t understand. You meet people who have never come across the issue and it is hard to get your head around it when you have never come across it. It’s just not in their life bubble.
“Unless you talk to people and have experienced it, people just automatically don’t like what they don’t understand.”
