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By GM Moving | 25 June 2025 | TAGS: LGBTQ+, commitment to inclusion, Inclusion, Data

People across Greater Manchester are on a mission so everyone can lead active lives. We know that if you’re part of a marginalised community, there are bigger barriers stopping you from being active. So, it’s important that we all take time to understand these barriers and what we can do to help.

June is LGBTQ+ Pride Month, a great chance to share research on LGBTQ+ participation in sport, physical activity and movement as well as highlighting spaces and places where LGBTQ+ people feel welcome, and suggest what more needs to be done.

There’s some brilliant work happening across GM in unaffiliated, mixed-gender, and informal sport spaces, creating more welcoming opportunities for everyone to enjoy being active. For example, the Inclusive Football Collective prioritise a friendly atmosphere and community spirit in their 7- and 9-a-side football leagues. Shining a light on what is good, helps it to spread and grow. Especially if we understand the conditions that are needed to support that growth.

Although there’s lots of great work on LGBTQ+ inclusion going on, we still have a long way to go until all LGBTQ+ people feel safe and welcomed in sport and physical activity. Across Europe, 82% of LGBTQ+ people who take part in sport have experienced or witnessed anti-LGBTQ+ prejudice and attitudes in the past 12 months. Meanwhile, 1 in 4 LGBTQ+ people don’t feel welcome in community sport groups or community team sports (Stonewall, 2024). Unsafe and unwelcoming environments contribute to 33% of LGBTQ+ people who take part in or follow sport not sharing their LGBTQ+ identity with anyone in their sporting life (OUTSPORT, 2019).

Outside of sport, LGBTQ+ people often have a harder time feeling safe and comfortable in public when being active. Public spaces, like parks, where many of us go to exercise aren’t always safe for LGBTQ+ people. For example, LGBTQ+ young people have shared that they’re harassed in local parks and scared to go there after dark (SPHR, 2024). Meanwhile, sustrans (2022) found that only 51% of trans and 59% of LGBQ+ people feel welcome and comfortable walking or spending time on the streets in their neighbourhood, compared to 67% of heterosexual people.

Having multiple marginalised identities can make it even harder to find safe and welcoming spaces to be more active. For example, LGBTQ+ women face added safety risks when exercising in public due to their gender as over two thirds of women runners across GM and Merseyside have experienced abuse whilst running (UoM, 2024).

One solution to helping LGBTQ+ people feel safe, welcome, and comfortable is creating spaces run by and for LGBTQ+ people. These clubs, venues, and community hubs can be the only spaces where LGBTQ+ people enjoy being active as they’re surrounded by people with a shared identity and experience. However, these spaces aren’t always welcoming to all LGBTQ+ people. For example, 70% of Deaf and disabled LGBTQ+ people reported feeling unwelcome at prides or LGBTQ+ venues (attitude is everything, 2018). Racism within LGBTQ+ communities is also widespread, with many LGBTQ+ people of colour sharing experiences of being shut out of LGBTQ+ spaces due to their race (BBC, 2019; Big Issue, 2023; Kings College London, 2022; VICE, 2022).

For trans and non-binary people, the barriers to being active are even greater than for the wider LGBQ+ community. Research by Mermaids (2023) found that 52% of young trans, non-binary, and gender-diverse people feel their gender identity makes it harder to take part in sport.

Recent changes to the definition of sex in the Equality Act (2010) has had an impact on trans and non-binary people’s access to sport and physical activity. For example, policy changes within some sports mean that trans women are no longer able to play competitive sport in the women’s category (e.g., ECB, 2025; FA, 2025).

Confusion around which bathrooms and changing rooms trans men and women should use will likely create more barriers for these communities when accessing gyms, swimming pools, and other leisure facilities (Maine, 2025).

Over the last year, we’ve been working with the Proud Trust and LGBT Foundation to find out more about trans and non-binary people’s experiences of and access to sport and physical activity across Greater Manchester. Over the summer, we’ll be sharing a report on trans and non-binary people’s experiences of sport and physical activity across GM. We’ll be using insights from this work to support others to play their part in creating a more inclusive society and opportunities.

LGBT Foundation will also be offering training sessions for sport and physical activity providers on how they can create more welcoming and inclusive spaces for trans and non-binary communities.

To read more, visit our news piece on our trans inclusion work and learn more about our EEDI plan here.

There’s still a long way to go before all LGBTQ+ people feel truly welcome, safe, and able to live active lives and take part in sport and physical activity, many clubs and groups are already leading the way on LGBTQ+ inclusion. To learn more about what’s available, visit Pride Sport’s LGBTQ+ sports club finder and Canal Street Media’s list of LGTBQ+ sport and social groups. If you want to learn more about being an inclusive sports organisation, teammate and fan, click here for tips from Stonewall.

Looking for practical inclusion tips for clubs and organisations? Visit our article on how to build LGBTQ+ inclusion here.

Learn more about the data using the links below.