Middle class Britons are 60% more likely to identify as gay
Recent findings from the Office of National Statistics have for the first time, indicated that middle class professionals are 57% more likely to describe themselves as gay than their working class counterparts.
A recent ONS study in the UK revealed that 1.6% of adults identify as being LGB.
Never before has the study analysed responses in alignment with occupation.
2.2% of respondents from professional, middle class backgrounds described themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual, compared to just 1.4% of working class respondents.
The head of policy at Stonewall, James Taylor commented on the survey’s findings, saying that: “While these statistics should be taken with a pinch of salt, as the ONS survey still fails to represent the full picture of modern Britain, it clearly demonstrates that there are many workplaces where lesbian, gay and bisexual people don’t feel able to be themselves”.
According to the survey, London has the highest percentage of people aged 16+ who are openly gay at 3.2%.
Taylor added: “There’s definitely a geographical issue here too. People feel less confident about being open about their sexual orientation outside of big cities because there aren’t always the same support networks in place.”
The survey asked 180,000 UK adults about their self-perceived sexual identity. 5.4% refused to answer the question about sexuality.
The figures have increased over the last three years, when only 2.1 per cent of younger people said they were gay or bisexual.
