An in-depth survey of more than 2,000 people from all backgrounds, ages and religious beliefs across Britain has found that the vast majority of them are not homophobic, and that religious people are actually unlikely to be anti-gay. Britons are on the whole comfortable with gay people and believe that discrimination against gay, lesbian and bisexual people should be tackled. Only one in 20 people said they don't like lesbians and gay men, fewer than one in ten people disagree with legal protection for gay people at work and less than one in ten think that anti-gay bullying in schools should not be tackled. 84% of religious people disagreed with the statement, “homosexuality is morally unacceptable in all circumstances,” and 83% support laws giving gay people protection from discrimination in areas such as health care and social services. Almost everyone (92%) would be comfortable if a footballer on the team they support was gay, and a further four in five people would not mind if a member of the royal family was gay. 89% of people are in favour of laws which would make it illegal to incite hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation, similar to existing laws for race and religion. 73% would not mind if their child's teacher was gay and 85% support the 2007 Sexual Orientation Regulations introduced this year to give legal protections for gay people when accessing goods and services. The vast majority believe that further steps should be taken by government to tackle homophobia in workplaces, schools and the media. Almost one in seven respondents have witnessed homophobic bullying in the workplace. Ben Summerskill, Stonewall's chief executive, said: "We wanted to establish whether the shrill voices in modern Britain still opposing equality are actually representative. "While a significant majority of Britons are clearly not prejudiced, as this polling demonstrates, their voices are often drowned out by a minority who are. "I'm delighted we now have hard evidence that people don't want to live in a society that allows prejudice against any group of people, including lesbians and gay men, to fester." Ref: Pinknews.co.uk (m)