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60% of Leave voters think gay sex is 'unnatural'

A sign from the Pride London Parade in London, Saturday, July 8, 2017 (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
A sign from the Pride London Parade in London, Saturday, July 8, 2017 (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

59% of Brexit supporters believe gay sex is unnatural, according to a new poll, fifty years after if it was decriminalised in the UK.

Six in ten Leave voters who expressed an opinion said that sex between gay people is unnatural, compared to just 25% of Remain voters.

In a similar vein, 61% of Conservative voters who expressed an opinion saying gay sex is unnatural, compared to 27% of Labour voters and 22% of Lib Dem voters.

The YouGov poll, carried out on behalf of Pink News, found that Brexit voters were less progressive on gay rights than their Remain counterparts across the board.

PinkNews Chief Executive Benjamin Cohen described the findings as “depressing”.

“It has long been suggested that Brexit supporters would be likely to be anti-LGBT rights but now we know that there is a potential correlation with voting for Brexit and opposing gay rights”, he said.

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More than a decade after the repeal of Section 28, which prohibited teachers from educating children about homosexuality, the poll found that 48% of British people still believe schools should not be able to teach kids about gay relationships.

Of that, 68% of Brexit supporters back such a ban, compared to 29% of Remain voters.

About a third of voters also believe gay couples should not be allowed to have children, the poll found.

In addition to political views, age seems to be a key factor behind British views on homosexuality. 78% of people aged between 18-24 who expressed an opinion told YouGov gay sex is natural, compared to 69% of people aged over 65 who said it is unnatural.

Cohen, the PinkNews chief exec, saw this as a cause for optimism.

“It is gratifying though to know that for younger people, gay relationships are considered perfectly natural and they strongly support gay parents and teaching young people about gay relationships”, he said.