Rising number of Brits think it’s acceptable to make gay jokes, study shows
Two men making a joke (Getty Images)
A new study worryingly reveals that British people think it’s increasingly acceptable to make jokes about gay people.
The YouGov study is a biannual tracker that offers data from August 2019 to January 2026. Between 1,963 and 2,048 British adults participated in each wave of data collection.
The poll is titled: Do Brits think it’s acceptable to make jokes about gay people?
Participants were asked: “Which, if any, of the following identity groups do you think it is acceptable to make jokes about? Please select all that apply.”
With the topic “gay people”, there were four options for participants to select.
They were: “Acceptable only if you identify with this group yourself”, “Acceptable regardless of whether or not you identify with this group”, “Unacceptable regardless of whether or not you identify with this group” and “Don’t know”.
Twenty-five percent answered “acceptable regardless of whether or not you identify with this group” in 2019. That number is now 30% in 2026.
These results add to the rise of homophobia, recently reported in British schools seeing a sharp rise in suspensions for homophobic and transphobic abuse.
The data goes on to further demonstrate this gradual increase in joking about queerness.
In 2019, 40% responded that gay jokes were “unacceptable regardless of whether or not you identify with this group”.
However, in 2026, that has dropped to 36%, the lowest score since data collection began. The highest was 42% in 2020 and 2021.
Collectively, this data seems to assert that the British population are growing more comfortable deeming ‘gay jokes’ as acceptable. This is regardless of whether you are part of the LGBTQ+ community or not.
Looking further into the data sets, the same conclusion of rising “acceptability” of gay jokes can be seen across men and women participants.
However, there is a stark difference between percentages.
In 2019, 38% of men answered: “acceptable regardless of whether or not you identify with this group”. In 2026, that response swelled to 43%, the highest recorded score.
Among women, the percentage selecting this response was 14% in 2019 and 18% in 2026.
The poll also showcases that young people have the most pushback to ‘gay jokes’.
In the 18-24 category, 25% responded it was “unacceptable regardless of whether or not you identify with this group”. Compare that to 25-49 (33%), 50-64 (36%) and 65+ (45%).
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