I'm not surprised the acceptance of gay sex in the UK is falling for the first time since the AIDS crisis

Last weekend I attended LGBT+ Pride in London, the city I now call home. It was a defiant day filled with glitter, protest placards and plenty of M&S canned cocktails, but what made this year’s Pride even more special was my Dad joining me to watch the parade. This was a moment I’ll never forget and certainly don’t take for granted.

But there are things that many of us in the LGBT+ community, including myself at times, have been guilty of taking for granted. As Pride season comes to an end, we’ve been forced to confront the reality that acceptance towards LGBT+ people in the UK is stalling.

This has been confirmed by new data which reveals that the number of people who said they think gay sex is wrong has risen for the first time since the HIV/AIDS crisis. This is the first time that support has fallen in over three decades. The last dip was recorded in 1987, when every UK household had leaflets posted to them warning them not to “die of ignorance” from AIDS.

Back then, a staggering 90 per cent people thought that consensual gay sex was wrong. But thirty years later, the British Social Attitudes Survey reveals that a third of the population remain in some way opposed to the idea of two men or two women going to bed together.

These findings coincide with a surge in homophobic and transphobic hate crime. Figures released by The Guardian last month revealed that offences against trans people had trebled since 2014 and homophobic hate crimes had doubled in the same period. Stonewall says that 80 per cent of these hate crimes go unreported.

Both of these sets of data, released in the aftermath of two women being brutally beaten up on a London bus for refusing to kiss in front of a group of men, are terrifying. But they aren’t surprising. Official confirmation that attitudes against LGBT+ people are worsening and hate crime is rising almost feels like a relief, because it validates what many of us have been feeling for some time.

As politics has become more polarised, LGBT+ people have felt an atmosphere of hostility creeping into our lives. Even in central London, I’ve been subjected to a huge number of homophobic comments recently and several friends of mine have been assaulted or attacked.

Over the last few months, LGBT+ people have watched our existence being debated on public platforms. As the row over teaching children about the existence of LGBT+ people has raged on (and on), we have been subjected to a barrage of sensationalist and dehumanising news coverage.

The BBC has framed our existence as a “moral” issue, while TV shows like Good Morning Britain have platformed people who think being gay is a choice and is sinful.

We have seen former cabinet ministers such as Esther McVey and Andrea Leadsom appearing to side with homophobic protestors in Birmingham in order to boost their leadership credentials with the Tory right.

Labour MP Roger Godsiff also told Birmingham’s anti-LGBT+ protesters that he was on their side (the protesters were filmed this week asking teachers not to “teach our kids gay is OK"). But despite a tweet of “solidarity” from Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to mark Pride weekend, Godsiff still has the Labour whip.

This week, Westminster voted to overturn the ban on same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland, providing power sharing is not restored to Stormont before 21 October. Theresa May had pledged she would be our “ally for the rest of her life” just a week earlier, but she failed to vote for equal marriage in Northern Ireland when it counted. The same can be said for Boris Johnson, who tweeted for Pride but also abstained, missing the opportunity to make amends for homophobic comments that have resurfaced in recent weeks.

In total, 65 conservative MPs voted against equal marriage in Northern Ireland. Given that the vote was triggered by an amendment from a Labour MP and more Tory MPs abstained (142) than voted in favour (105), it seems that Britain’s ruling party still doesn’t turn up for LGBT+ people unless it is convenient for them. This is worrying given the difficult political trade-offs that lie ahead of us.

Ultimately, I’m not surprised at all that acceptance towards same-sex relationships is falling. The relentless campaign against trans rights and progressively reforming the Gender Recognition Act has opened the door for people to question our right to exist.

In addition to the rise in hate crime and fall in acceptance of gay sex, the UK slid to eighth place on ILGA Europe’s Rainbow Index earlier this year. We topped this list, which monitors legal rights and freedoms of LGBT+ people in Europe, in 2014.

All of these pieces fit together: stalling legal rights, divisive statements from politicians, surging hate crime and rising public intolerance. In America, where similar forces are at play, acceptance towards LGBT+ people among young people has fallen by 8 per cent – a terrifying statistic.

This depressing puzzle is proof that when you put the existence and humanity of people up for debate, whether that be gay men like me or trans people, hatred and violence follows. Wherever it starts, this is where the trajectory always leads. The last few months have been exhausting to say the least, but the fight for LGBT+ acceptance is entering its next round. Game on.