Yahoo Movies Prince William Was Asked How He'd React If His Kids Came Out as Gay — and He Had the Best Response
Prince William says it would be “absolutely fine by me” if any of his three children come out as gay.
The royal, who celebrated his 37th birthday last week, visited the Albert Kennedy Trust on Wednesday to learn about the issue of LGBTQ youth homelessness and what the organization is doing to alleviate the problem. During his chat with young people being supported by the charity, William was asked how he would react if Prince George, 5, Princess Charlotte, 4, or Prince Louis, 1, came to him one day to say they are gay.
“Do you know what, I’ve been giving that some thought recently because a couple of other parents said that to me as well,” William said. “I think, you really don’t start thinking about that until you are a parent, and I think — obviously absolutely fine by me.”
The prince went on to say that he and wife Kate Middleton had talked about the possibility and how they’d give their children the best support they could, especially considering their role in the public eye.
“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,” he said. “So Catherine and I have been doing a lot of talking about it to make sure they were prepared.”
Prince William continued, “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.”
Faz Bukhari, 28, from east London, experienced problems at home when he began to identify as transgender about four years ago.
“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,” he told reporters. “That he recognizes 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.”
Prince William previously supported the LGBT community by posing for the cover of Attitude magazine in June 2016.
After holding a discussion at his Kensington Palace home with a group of nine people who have endured homophobic bullying, William released a statement to the magazine saying, “No one should be bullied for their sexuality or any other reason and no one should have to put up with the kind of hate that these young people have endured in their lives.”
William said about the cover on Wednesday, “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. Thankfully, there were no small briefs for me!”
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry also celebrated the LGBTQ+ community this month by dedicating their @SussexRoyal Instagram page to the cause. The royal couple, who welcomed son Archie on May 6, gave their Instagram page a rainbow tribute in honor of Pride Month, which kicks off June 1 in the U.K. and the U.S.
A post shared by The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (@sussexroyal) on May 31, 2019 at 10:10pm PDT
Meghan and Harry shared a collage made of photos — which included one of Harry’s late mother Princess Diana — from accounts they are following this month which included The Trevor Project, Stonewall UK, SAGE and artist Ruben Guadalupe Marquez.
“This month we pay tribute to the accounts supporting the LGBTQ+ community – those young and old, their families and friends, accounts that reflect on the past and are hopeful for a deservedly more inclusive future,” the couple captioned the post.
“We stand with you and support you 🌈 Because it’s very simple: love is love.”
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During his visit to a London YMCA in April, Prince Harry met with Mermaids CEO Susie Green. The U.K. charity is a leader in supporting gender-variant and transgender children, and Harry wanted to highlight the organization’s “important” work as part of the Royal Foundation’s ongoing efforts in the field of mental health.
Green told the outlet that the Duke of Sussex’s invitation to the roundtable discussion convened by The Royal Foundation’s “Heads Together” campaign was “quite heartening, bearing in mind that there is such controversy and we are attacked regularly.”
“I think it’s always really important to young people to see that people with the authority and credibility that Prince Harry has are supporting them and are listening and acknowledging the fact that they exist,” Green said. “This is somebody who has got that profile who’s showing clear understanding of the issues they’re facing.”
