Sexual orientation refers to someone’s attraction to a person of the same sex, opposite sex, or both sexes
Equality Act 2010
Othering
"To view or treat (a person or group of people) as intrinsically different from and alien to oneself."
Datasets or terminology which combine a diverse group of people under a heading like "other" can be othering. We lose our understanding of the diversity of the group. It can make people feel excluded, and contribute to them being marginalised.
Several of these datasets use 'other'. We have retained this term to accurately reflect the source data. We are reviewing our own data collection to avoid this term in future.
Context
There is limited national data on sexual orientation. The 2022 Scottish Census will provide a more accurate picture of the data when it is released in 2024.
Physical activity and sport
There isn’t enough national data on sexual orientation and sport or physical activity
There is very limited national data on physical activity, sport and sexual orientation. The data we have suggests people who are lesbian and gay report similar activity to people who are heterosexual. There are a number of challenges in getting better national data. We can still learn from the qualitative research. See the equality and sport research for more details.
Participation in our key programmes
Gay men are least likely to participate in our programmes
Most participants reported they were heterosexual/straight. Gay men are least likely to take part at 1% in clubs and 0% in high performance sport.
