year round. In the 2008 festival, attendance figures reached 12,000, and by 2011 its web-based TV service reached 200,000 people a year. Homotopia has been attended by numerous high-profile figures from international gay society, including Peter Tatchell, Holly Johnson, Armistead Maupin, and Amy Lame. In its formative years, Homotopia also represented the gay community with its own float in Liverpool's annual Lord Mayor's Parade, along with other communities in the city. Population By sexual orientation In the UK Census 2021, for the first time ever people were asked “Which of the following best describes your sexual orientation?”. The question was voluntary and was only asked of people aged 16 years and over. The table below shows how residents answered in each of the six local authority districts of Liverpool City Region. In the Liverpool City Region as a whole, 123,367 Census respondents described their sexual orientation as gay or lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, asexual, queer, other or did not specify an answer. The remaining (majority) of respondents described themselves as straight or heterosexual. The Census gave respondents the option of choosing from: straight or heterosexual, gay or lesbian, bisexual or other sexual orientation. If respondents selected “Other sexual orientation”, they were asked to specify the sexual orientation with which they identified. The most common responses of "other sexual orientation" included: pansexual, asexual or queer. These numbers are specified below. All other different answers given are listed as “All other sexual orientations”. The Office for National Statistics confirms that the numbers only convey how people responded to the question, and should not be interpreted as a definitive explanation of whom they are attracted to or their actual relationships. Liverpool transgender community The British government does not officially estimate the transgender population of the UK. Huge disparities exist between defining the community and how the data is collected at national level. A Home Office report has suggested the number of transgender people nationwide is in the low thousands, although this has been contested. Therefore, it is difficult to definitively measure the community on a local level. However, the Gender Identity Research and Education Society (GIRES) advocates that as much as 1% of the population might be experiencing some degree of gender variance at any given time. This would appear to be consistent with the latest NHS guidance. In the case of Liverpool City Region this reservoir of individuals could be anywhere upwards of