Data from the 2021 census spurred one man to help gay people in Rochford, Essex to feel more accepted

When Rochford was crowned as England’s straightest place in the 2021 census, it weighed heavily on Chris Taylor’s mind.

Taylor, a Rochford native who is 36 and gay, was not surprised. He had grown up in the rural and traditionally conservative stronghold where, he recalls, conversations and recognition of gender identity outside heterosexual norms were “nonexistent”.