After a period of increasing acceptance of homosexual relationships there has been a reversal of this trend. Currently three fifths of people (60%) do not accept the legalising of civil partnerships for couples of the same sex, which is 4 percentage points more than in 2017.

Approval for formalising same-sex relationships is influenced by whether respondents know someone who is not heterosexual. Of those who actually know a lesbian or a gay man, over a half (54%) think they should be able to enter into formal civil partnerships, while in the group that does not have any homosexual friends this is 24%, with the majority being opposed to formalising same-sex relationships (71%).

More on this subject in the CBOS report.