The poll also examined people’s attitudes to same-sex marriages in general.
A new Ipsos poll for King’s College London has recorded the largest shift in public opinion towards same-sex marriage in the past 40 years, according to the organisation’s chief executive, Ben Page.
The poll, which surveyed 1,681 people, found that nearly three-quarters of them didn’t object to same-sex weddings, and that two thirds of people would support a same-sex royal wedding.
But despite the good figures, there are still some bad ones hanging around. 8% of those surveyed thought that same-sex weddings should be banned. A further 13% didn’t approve of same-sex weddings, but thankfully they didn’t think that they should be banned.
These numbers were further increased when it came to a same-sex royal wedding. 15% of those surveyed said that they would be “very concerned” if someone from the royal family married someone of the same sex, whereas only 10% would be concerned if one of their friends or immediate family were to do so.
The research also found that men were twice as likely than women to seek to ban same-sex marriages, and that a third of those aged 55-74 would seek to do the same.
This made same-sex weddings the most contentious marriage issue, surpassing interracial weddings, those of a different religion marrying and divorcees remarrying. The poll found that only 6%, 5% and 4% would disapprove or seek to ban those kinds of marriages respectively.
The research marks a large attitude change towards same-sex marriages since the 1970s. Professor Roger Mortimore from King’s College London said: “In the 1970s only one person in six thought same-sex marriage should be legal, and as late as the 1990s half the public believed that homosexual sex was always wrong.
“Now most people have no objection at all, even to a member of the royal family marrying somebody of the same sex.”
He then added: “Nevertheless, the public holds the Royal Family to stricter standards than they hold themselves.”
Although this royal wedding isn’t going to a same-sex one, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have pledged to put LGBTQ issues at the front of their royal duties.
Jacob Thomas – winner of a Queen’s Young Leaders award for helping reduce the suicide rate within Australia’s LGBTQ community – said: “Miss Markle said, and these were her exact words, that this is a basic human rights issue, not one about sexuality.”
He then added: “Prince Harry said that what was so amazing was that five or ten years ago we wouldn’t have been having this conversation and how incredible it was that we now were. He said he would put the issue at the forefront of his work.”
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