A major new report from Amnesty International has highlighted how the UK media has had a disproportionate focus on trans people, despite trans communities representing just 0.5% of the population.

Analysing coverage published by UK media between January 2020 and April 2025, Amnesty found that four major UK news outlets produced almost 17,000 articles about trans-related issues, an average of nine stories every single day.

Researchers argue that the scale of reporting far outweighs both public interest and the actual influence trans people hold within British society.

According to the report, coverage surged dramatically during 2022 and 2023, continuing a trend that had already accelerated throughout the previous decade. Earlier linguistic studies cited by Amnesty found that stories about “trans issues” had already increased more than threefold by 2018 compared with 2012.

However, campaigners are not only worried about the quantity of coverage but also the tone of coverage. Amnesty’s findings suggest that much of the coverage across the British press has been overwhelmingly negative, frequently framing trans people as controversial. The report also notes that trans people themselves were rarely centred in stories unless portrayed as criminals or victims of violence.

Researchers argue this constant cycle of reporting has helped elevate debates around sex and gender into a defining political issue, despite evidence suggesting voters care far more about the cost of living, housing and the NHS. Ahead of the 2024 General Election, trans rights and gender identity did not feature among the public’s top concerns. Yet stories connected to gender, sexuality and “culture war” debates dominated media coverage during the campaign period.

The report also charts the rapid growth of the UK’s organised gender-critical movement. Amnesty identified 51 groups campaigning around sex and gender issues, with all but three formed after 2017. While many operate informally, others have become influential lobbying organisations, including Sex Matters, FiLiA and LGB Alliance.

Amnesty warns that these campaigns increasingly overlap with international conservative and religious movements seeking to restrict bodily autonomy more broadly. The organisation argues that attacks on access to gender-affirming healthcare are being used as a proxy battleground for wider efforts to undermine reproductive rights, contraception access and young people’s medical autonomy.

The report’s findings suggest that Britain’s media landscape has helped manufacture a moral panic around trans existence, transforming a tiny minority into the centre of national debate.