Britons are reporting broadly positive views of bisexual people, according to new YouGov findings published around Bi Visibility Day. The figures offer a welcome snapshot after years of hostile coverage, while also highlighting a familiar gap between public sentiment and the lived experiences of LGBT people across the UK.

Essential Takeaways

  • Nearly half are positive: 48% of respondents said they view bisexual people either very or fairly positively.
  • Neutrality remains common: 41% chose neither positive nor negative, suggesting many people may still feel unfamiliar with bisexual identities.
  • Lesbian and gay people score higher: 54% expressed a positive view of lesbians and gay men.
  • Trans people face a sharper divide: 36% reported positive views, while 26% were negative.
  • A wider baseline is missing: The survey didn't ask about attitudes towards straight or cisgender people, making comparisons less complete.

Almost half of Britons say they view bisexual people positively

The headline figure is striking but slightly less simple than it first appears. YouGov found that 31% of people viewed bisexual people very positively, while a further 17% said their view was fairly positive.

That adds up to 48%, just below half of the public. Meanwhile, 41% selected neither positive nor negative, which is a sizeable middle ground. The result suggests that acceptance may be growing, but visibility and understanding still have plenty of room to develop.

The figures were released for Bi Visibility Day, a moment designed to draw attention to bisexual lives and challenge the idea that bisexuality is merely a phase or an indecisive halfway point. Those stereotypes can sound tired, but they continue to shape how people are treated in everyday life.

Bisexual people sit behind lesbians and gay men

Attitudes towards lesbians and gay men were more favourable in the same poll. Fifty-four per cent of respondents expressed a very or fairly positive view, compared with 48% for bisexual people.

That difference may reflect a visibility gap. Same-sex relationships have become more familiar in public life over several decades, while bisexual people are often less represented in television, politics, advertising and health research. When people rarely see an identity described accurately, a neutral response can sometimes mean uncertainty rather than hostility.

Older official analysis from the Office for National Statistics also showed that lesbian, gay and bisexual people can experience poorer quality-of-life outcomes than heterosexual people. That matters because a warm-sounding public opinion figure doesn't automatically translate into equal experiences at work, at home or in healthcare.

Why the neutral middle matters

The largest group in the bisexual figures wasn't positive or negative. It was neutral, at 41%, with 3% saying they didn't know and 8% expressing a fairly or very negative view.

That broad centre is worth watching. It could represent people who haven't thought much about bisexuality, or respondents who don't want to attach a strong opinion to a personal identity that doesn't affect them directly. Either way, it points to the value of clear education and more everyday representation rather than occasional visibility limited to awareness dates.

Equality Network resources have also highlighted the complicated nature of bisexual experiences, including the risk of being overlooked both within LGBT communities and in wider society. In practical terms, that can leave people feeling present but not fully seen, a particularly lonely kind of invisibility.

Trans people face a much tougher opinion landscape

The comparison becomes more stark when the survey turns to transgender people. Twenty per cent of respondents said they viewed trans people very positively and 16% fairly positively, producing a combined positive figure of 36%.

At the other end, 15% held a fairly negative view and 11% a very negative one. A further 34% remained neutral. That makes the trans figures notably more polarised than those for bisexual people, lesbians and gay men.

Recent reporting by Attitude found that many trans people feel negatively viewed in the UK. Against that backdrop, the poll offers a useful reminder that public debate isn't an abstract contest of headlines. Its tone can affect whether people feel safe, welcome and able to move through ordinary life without having to explain themselves.

One missing comparison limits the picture

The survey's most obvious weakness is what it leaves out. It asks about views of LGBT groups, but not about straight people or cisgender people.

Without that baseline, it's difficult to know what a genuinely neutral public attitude looks like. People may be more likely to say they feel positive about groups they've actively considered, while reserving a neutral response for identities they see as unfamiliar. A comparison group could have made the results easier to interpret.

Still, the findings fit with broader research showing a mixed but changing picture of LGBT attitudes in Britain. Ipsos has previously reported encouraging signs of support for the UK LGBT community, while other evidence points to persistent inequalities behind the numbers. Progress, in other words, isn't a straight line, and a favourable answer in a poll is only one part of the story.

The survey is best read as a snapshot rather than a final verdict. It suggests a substantial base of goodwill towards bisexual people, but visibility still has work to do before acceptance feels ordinary everywhere.

Small shifts in understanding can make a big difference to whether bisexual people feel seen rather than simply tolerated.

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