Like a snowball: the growth and impact of the gender critical movement in the UK
Overview
Over the past ten years the situation for LGBTI+ people in the UK has deteriorated. In particular there has been an organised backlash against trans people’s rights starting in 2017/18. This report maps the gender critical movement in the UK and the role of the media in normalising anti-trans rhetoric.
Our research shows that an organised gender critical movement emerged as a response to proposals to reform the Gender Recognition Act in 2017/18 and has gained huge influence in public and political discourse since then.
Between January 2020 and April 2025, media coverage of issues about trans people has been excessively high compared to the size of the trans population, their role in society, and public interest in these topics.
Four outlets examined in the research published 17,000 articles between January 2020 and April 2025, an average of 9 articles per day and ‘gender critical’ framing became common over this period of time while the voices of trans people have been almost completely absent.
Download and read the full report below.
Resource details
Publication date
Resource types
Executive summary, Reports and publications, Rights in Focus
Issues
Download
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Download: Report: Like a snowball (402.1 KB PDF)
This report highlights the growing movement against the rights of women and LGBTI people in the UK.
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Download: Technical explainer: Like a snowball (306.6 KB PDF)
This document sets out the methodology of the analysis into how the British press typically presents issues related to trans people.
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The Queer Rights Network (formerly Rainbow Network) defends the rights of LGBTQI+ communities across the UK and beyond, rising up against structures and institutions that try to erase our existence and rewrite our history. We are activist-led, standing on the shoulders of the trailblazers who have come before us and fighting for the future of queer people yet to come.
Gender justice seeks to address the systems that perpetuate discrimination and oppression based on gender. It seeks to create a society where everyone, regardless of gender identity, can live free from violence, exclusion, and inequity.
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