Acceptance of gay relationships among British people has dropped for the first time in more than 30 years, researchers said on Thursday, warning years of rising tolerance could be coming to an end.

The latest British Social Attitudes report by The National Center for Social Research (NatCen) shows the number of people who considered same-sex relationships to be “not wrong at all” slid to 66%, down from 68% a year earlier.

It is the first time tolerance of gay relationships recorded by the survey has decreased since 1987, when only about one in ten people said they accepted same-sex relationships.

While the number is not statistically significant, it comes as a series of reports have highlighted a rapid growth in violence towards LGBTIQ people.

The latest survey of nearly 4,000 people conducted in 2018 also found more than more than 80 per cent of respondents said they were “not prejudiced at all” towards transgender people, but less than fifty per cent said anti-trans prejudice was always wrong.

Earlier this year a report in The Guardian showed LGBTIQ people were facing a staggering growth in violent incidents and hate crimes. Over the last five years the number of violent crimes committed against gay people had doubled, while those directed at people who are transgender had trembled.

A recent UK government survey of over 100,000 LGBTIQ+ people showed that 40% of those surveyed had been abused in the last 12 months, and 90% of those did not report the incident.

OIP Staff