New study indicates the UK public majoritively support queer matters, suggesting anti-LGBTQ+ brigade could be a small but vocal minority

New report from Stonewall shows overwhelming UK support for LGBTQ+ people, indicating that the upturn in anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric poisoning online social spaces comes from a small, but loud, minority. 

This is the kind of news we like at the beginning of Pride Month.

To mark 50 years of Pride in the UK in 2022, LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall has released findings from its #TakePride report, which showed that the UK public is FOUR times more likely to feel positively towards LGBT people than they are negatively.

Indicating, therefore, that homo/bi/transphobia is mostly restricted to a tiny but vocal intolerant minority.

Stonewall, the world’s second-largest LGBTQ+ organisation, commissioned Opinium for the study who surveyed more than 2,000 adults across the nation. The charity has shared its findings as the UK prepares to mark 50 years since its inaugural Pride march, in 1972.

The charity’s report says findings “paint a picture of growing acceptance” in a society beginning to truly take pride in LGBTQ+ people as neighbours, colleagues, friends and family.

However, the report also addressed work that still needs to be done to combat the lingering prejudice that was “all too common when we first marched for our rights”.

Key points from the study showed: 

One in three said they actively respect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, with one in five even expressing admiration.

However, people were more likely to say they respected lesbian and gay people (38% and 37%, respectively) than bi or trans people (32% and 31%, respectively).

Admiration for LGBTQ+ people varied slightly, with 21% saying they feel this for trans people, 19% saying the same for both lesbian and gay people, and 16% saying it for bi people.

Unsurprisingly, younger people and women were more likely to be pro-LGBTQ+ than men or their older counterparts.

Women were almost eight times more likely to actively respect the trans community (35%) than they were to fear us (4%).

Those holding anti-LGBTQ+ views were found to be in the minority of the UK population, with less than one in 10 respondents saying they feel ‘disgust’ for those in the community.

Broken down, this was at a rate of 9% for gay people, 8% for trans and bi people and only 7% towards lesbians.

There were no incidents where feelings of resentment, fear and envy made up more than 4% of responses from those surveyed.

“Over the last 50 years, every battle for the rights of LGBTQ+ communities has been fought in the court of public opinion as well as in the corridors of power,” said Nancy Kelley, CEO of Stonewall.

“This data reminds us to celebrate how far we’ve come, as well as focus on how far there is to go. Nobody should have to grow up and go through life worrying that the people around them feel disgusted by who they are.”

“From the fight to decriminalise men who have sex with men, to the fight for trans people’s rights to be protected and respected, we’ve always relied on allies to stand alongside us. That’s why, as we enter pride month, we need people to do more than wear a rainbow pin – we need everyone to show they take pride in our community, by stepping up and fighting for a more equal world.”

The findings come after a rocky period for LGBTQ+ matters in the UK; 2021 saw a surge in reported hate crimes across the country and in 2022 the government reversed its promise to implement a trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices just as misinformation and anti-trans rhetoric online is being spread like wildfire by certain public figures. 

Let’s hope this new report helps instil some hope that just because the vocal minority are aggressively louder than others, their prejudice doesn’t represent everyone. 

Check out the full report here.