"I suppose one had better get onto it then."

Photo © AFP/AAP/Pool/Kevin Coombs

*The title of this article is knowingly ironic and was approved by The Project’s Standing Committee of Opinionated Gay People.

More than four out of five Britons would have no problem if Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge's first child - potentially a future monarch - was gay, according to a new survey.

Eighty-three per cent of people said they would be "very comfortable", "comfortable" or "neutral" if the first child of William and Kate grew up to be lesbian, gay or bisexual, according to British gay rights group Stonewall.

The child, if born during the Queen's reign, would become the third in line to the throne behind Prince Charles and William.

Previously, the only openly gay royal in the modern era was Freddie Mercury, lead singer of rock royalty Queen.

Almost three out of five people (58 per cent) with religious beliefs surveyed supported extending the right to marry to same-sex couples, the survey of more than 2000 people for the 2012 Living Together report on attitudes also found.

That figure rose to 71 per cent among all people polled.

Stonewall chief executive Ben Summerskill said: "Recently we've heard senior clerics distressingly compare marriage for gay people to polygamy, bestiality and child abuse.

"This polling holes below the waterline the suggestion that they speak for the majority of Britain's faith communities and vindicates years of campaigning by Stonewall to change public attitudes."

The poll asked people with and without religious beliefs the extent to which they supported government plans to extend the legal form and name of civil marriage to same-sex couples.

They were then asked their view on a future royal child's sexuality using a five-point scale ranging from very comfortable to very uncomfortable.

However, people felt uncomfortable when Prince Phillip walked in and offered to give his thoughts on the matter.

OK, that last bit is not true.

On a more serious note, the report also found that in the five years since it was last produced, 2.4 million people of working age have witnessed verbal homophobic bullying at work and 800,000 have witnessed physical homophobic bullying at work.

Two thirds of people aged 18 to 29 said there had been homophobic bullying in their school.

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