Prince William said that he’d fully support Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis if they were to be gay, saying it would be “absolutely fine by me.”
The royal was speaking with a group at Albert Kennedy Trust, a charity that supports LGBT people when the talk turned to his own family.
A young man asked William what would happen if one of his own children came out to him and he replied, “Do you know what I’ve been giving that some thought recently because a couple of other parents said that to me as well.”
He added, “I think you really don’t start thinking about that until you are a parent, and I think, obviously absolutely fine by me,” he said.
But the royal did admit that his only concern would be that given the high level of visibility his children have, they may face additional challenges such as “hate or persecution”.
“It worries me, not because of them being gay, it worries me as to how everyone else will react and perceive it and then the pressure is then on them. I wish we lived in a world where, like you said Faz, it’s really normal and cool,” adding, “But particularly for my family and the position that we are in, that’s the bit I’m nervous about.”
William explained, “I support whatever decision they make, but it does worry me from a parent’s point of view how many barriers, hateful words, persecution, and discrimination that might come. That’s the bit that troubles me a little bit.”
But the royal did say that it’s up to us to make change.
“That’s for all of us to try and help correct, to put that in the past and not come back to that sort of stuff.”
After the event, AKT’s chief executive, Tim Sigswort, commented, “I was personally rejected by my mum and the idea that the future monarch is saying they would support their children if they came out as LGBT is a message to the whole of society really, a message that we need to support and we need to empower LGBT people.”
OPINION: GLAMOUR Entertainment Editor, Josh Smith:
When I came out, my main concerns were, ‘what will my parents think?’ I was very lucky, after a while, to have very accepting parents which certainly isn’t the case for everyone and many of my LGBTQ+ friends still struggle with telling their parents or extended family be that for personal or cultural reasons. But WHY do we still put parents and society accepting us at the centre of our concerns?
Whilst Prince William talking this openly about the possibility of his children being gay, as a very high profile individual, is a massive step in the right direction, I can’t help but think WHY are we still asking parents about whether they would be ‘ok’ with their children being gay in 2019?
Asking the question at all suggests a severe underlying prejudice in our society. In the act of coming out, the central person in the narrative should always be THE person admitting who they truly are and everyone celebrating that the individual is finally in a comfortable place to admit who they are.
With articles being phrased like, ‘Prince William: I’d be absolutely fine if my children were gay,’ it puts everyone else at the centre of the narrative not the child.
In 2019, I would be happier if Prince William simply replied, ‘it actually has nothing to do with me. Why does it even matter any more?’
