It’s official: These are the straightest student areas in the country, ranked

Oh Polly girls everywhere are shaking rn

2 years ago

What would you think if I said to you: VKs, Oh Polly dresses, and pink lemonade Elf Bars? All seemingly innocuous, all quintessentially uni, and above all: very, very straight energy. Yes, it’s official – the straightest university student areas are here, and it’s bad news if you go to Warwick.

The Tab has looked at the proportions of gay people in all the main uni towns and cities, and found that the student area with the least gay people is Warwick’s Leamington Spa – however, at 4.21 per cent, it was still higher than the national average.

For the first time ever, the most recent census asked people about their sexuality and gender identity – and the results for England and Wales have just been released. It found there are around 1.5 million (3.2 per cent) LGB+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and more) people in the country, as well as over a quarter of a million trans people. And these are only estimates, with millions of people not answering these questions, as well as there not being any data released for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

But as well as the overall numbers, you can also see a map of literally every single area in the country and the exact percentage of how many gay people live there. Iconic if you ask me. From this though, you can also work out the sad, cold, desolate places with the least gay people – aka, the straightest.

The straightest student area – with the least LGB+ people – was Warwick’s Leamington Spa, with 4.21 per cent. Next came Lancaster’s Bowerham student area (4.5 per cent), followed by Oxford Brookes’ Cowley, with 5.1 per cent.

Now you know where to avoid, at the other end of the scale the uni city with the most gay people was of course Brighton. The Uni of Sussex’s student area Hanover has a whopping 17.4 per cent of its residents who are LGB+. This was followed with Fallowfield in Manchester, and then Lincoln’s university area, with 13.75 and 13.47 per cent respectively.

These are officially the straightest student areas in the country (based from how many lesbian, gay, and bi people live there), ranked: