Prince William said that he and his wife, Kate Middleton, the duchess of Cambridge, would be “absolutely fine” and “fully support” their children if one of them came out as gay.
William and his brother, Prince Harry, have both been outspoken supporters of the LGBT community. William was the first royal to pose on the cover of a gay magazine.
Britain’s future king was speaking June 26 to youth at the Albert Kennedy Trust, a London LGBT youth organization that helps young people on the verge of becoming homeless, ahead of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York.
Reuters reported that the organization was opening a new service center, which prompted the prince’s visit.
The duke and duchess’ children Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis are 5, 4, and 1, respectively.
Speaking as a royal and a father, William, 37, told the youth he was nervous because of his family’s position, but also because of the “hateful words, persecution” and “discrimination that might come,” he said, when asked how he would react if one of his children came out to him.
He admitted that the topic isn’t something he thought about before becoming a father himself.
If one of his children does come out as gay, they wouldn’t be the first British royal to do so.
The first openly gay royal, Lord Ivar Mountbatten, 56, came out in 2016 and married his longtime partner, James Coyle, in September 2018.
Mountbatten is Queen Elizabeth II’s third cousin once removed.
No matter what, William said of his children, “I fully support whatever decision they make.”
In a briefing on LGBT youth homelessness published earlier this year, Tim Sigsworth, chief executive of the trust, noted that 77% of young homeless LGBT people are rejected by their family or abused.
“I was personally rejected by my mum,” Sigsworth told the BBC. “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.”
Homosexuality is still criminalized in 35 of the 53 Commonwealth nations that were once British colonies and adopted Britain’s former anti-sodomy laws.
Sigsworth told reporters that he was touched by William’s remarks.
“I was first impressed by his level of knowledge already, but his empathy and appreciation of the struggles and challenges faced by LGBT people was incredible to me,” said Sigsworth.
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