The Duke of Cambridge has said it would be “absolutely fine” if his children were gay or transgender but admitted he would be worried about the “persecution” they could face.
Prince William, who has been vocal in his support for LGBT rights, said the question was one he had been thinking about since he became a parent.
Speaking on a visit to the Albert Kennedy Trust, which helps homeless young gay and transgender people, he said that he would be “nervous” about how they might be treated.
Prince William, who in 2016 became the first member of the royal family to be photographed for the cover of a gay magazine, giving an interview to Attitude in which he spoke out about homophobic bullying, was officially opening the trust’s new services centre in Hoxton, east London.
During a group discussion with people supported by the charity, often because they have been rejected by their parents, one man asked: “If your child one day in the future said, ‘Oh I’m gay, oh I’m lesbian’ whatever, how would you react?”
William replied: “I’ve been giving that some thought recently because a couple of other parents said that to me as well. I think you really don’t start thinking about that until you are a parent, and I think — obviously absolutely fine by me.
“The one thing I’d be worried about is how they — particularly the roles my children fill — is how that is going to be interpreted and seen.
“So Catherine and I were doing a lot of talking about it to make sure they were prepared. I think communication is so important with everything. In order to help understand it you’ve got to talk a lot about stuff and make sure how to support each other and how to go through the process.
“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.”
During what the organisers believe was the first time a member of the royal family has visited an LGBT organisation, William also returned to the issue during a group discussion with several of its ambassadors, young people who have been supported by the charity and now mentor others using its services.
Faz Bukhari, 28, from east London, had problems at home from the age of 24 when he began to identify as transgender. He left home soon after and found support and accommodation through the charity’s Purple Door refuge scheme. He now works for a housing association.
He asked William: “You coming here is a great opportunity and platform, what would you think about it if one your children was LGBT?”
William answered: “It is something I’m nervous about, not of the fact if any of them were to be gay, but because of the pressures they’ll face, because of my family and the position we’re in. I’d fully support whatever decisions they make. It worries me how many barriers, persecution and hate they’d face. But that’s for all of us to try and correct.”
During his conversation with the charity’s ambassadors, he joked about his Attitude magazine cover. “I did my Attitude magazine cover which was a good day. But I’d seen some of the previous front covers and I was a bit nervous about what they might ask me to do,” he said. “Thankfully there were no small briefs for me!”
Afterwards Mr Bukhari said: “I thought his answer was so good, to hear him talk about having fears about what people might think of his children and how they might take to them, if they were identified as LGBT. That he recognises that, and is aware there could be a backlash, he understands the issues and hopefully with his comments we can get more awareness across to more parents of the issues.”
The duke spoke of how “stifling” many young people find the burden of coming out to their families and also of his concerns about young LGBT people taking their own lives. “It’s a real pressure to live under,” he said during a conversation with Cath Hall, the trust’s founder.
William also told the group how shocked he had been by the recent bus attack on a lesbian couple in London. “I was really appalled by that attack, that stuff like that still happens.”
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