If you think that future generations of people might be the answer to the inequalities faced by the LGBT+ community, statistics from Galop‘s latest research is sober reading.
According to Galop, the UK’s leading charity against violence towards lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, found that 1 in four people aged 18-24 said that being LGBT+ was “immoral or against their beliefs”.
That statistic becomes more concerning when you consider that, 41 per cent of the age group said that they strongly agreed (12%), agreed (16%) or were ambivalent (13%) with the idea gay or trans went against their beliefs or that being LGBT+ was in some way immoral.
Just over half of the respondents aged 18 to 24, said that they disagreed with the statement “Being LGBT+ is immoral or against my beliefs”.
What about the next age group up?
The age group 25 to 35 didn’t fair much better with 40 per cent saying that strongly agreed (9%), agreed (12%) or were ambivalent (19%) with the idea that being LGBT+ was against their belief.
This is in stark contrast to the widely quoted statistic from a YouGov survey that found 49 per cent of 18 to 24 year olds, when asked to plot their sexuality on a scale said that they were not 100 per cent heterosexual.
Nik Noone, Galop’s Chief Executive said, Recorded anti-LGBT+ hate crime has doubled in the last three years. This is reflected in the escalating scale, severity and complexity of hate crime cases we are supporting at Galop.
Our ambition is that this report gives insight into the scale of prejudice still faced by our community. More importantly, we hope its findings and recommendations will act as a springboard for action.