Survey: Three in five people in Wales support equal marriage
A major poll conducted by YouGov for Stonewall Cymru has revealed that three in five people in Wales support government plans to extend civil marriage to same-sex couples.
Stonewall Cymru’s first ever polling of Welsh public attitudes, for its Living Together report, shows that more than three quarters of Welsh adults under 50 now support the proposal.
The YouGov poll of over 1,000 adults living in Wales shows that half say there’s still public prejudice against gay people, and more than four in five believe it’s right to tackle that prejudice where they say it exists.
It also shows that the majority, and crucially a majority of people of faith in Wales, support what has been done to secure equality for lesbian, gay and bisexual people
Living Together also reveals, however, that in the last five years in Wales 114,000 people of working age have witnessed homophobic bullying at work and three in five young people have witnessed homophobic bullying in their school.
Andrew White, Director of Stonewall Cymru said: “Deeply offensive comments made about gay people by some senior politicians and faith leaders in recent months– likening same sex relationships to polygamy, bestiality and child abuse, or comparing equal marriage supporters to Nazis – shows that prejudice has strong support among some disproportionately vocal groups. Thankfully, this polling clearly shows their views are increasingly out of touch with modern Wales.”
Mr White added: “As Stonewall Cymru mark our first decade in Wales we are mindful that there’s still much work to be done to make sure that every one of Wales’ 184,000 lesbian, gay and bisexual people can live and work free from hatred, prejudice, and fear.”
A freedom of information (FOI) request by the party found that only four out of 22 local authorities had information about bullying incidents.
