Poll: Britons Not Sold on Marriage Equality, Adoption Rights

Less than half of Britons support same-sex marriage rights and only one third of residents of the United Kingdom approve of adoption by gay couples, according to numbers from the a British Social Attitudes survey and research by the European Union's Eurobarometer.

Forty-five percent of Britons said they believe "homosexual marriages should be allowed throughout Europe." That number is slightly lower than that in recent surveys in the United States that show support for marriage equality is at about 50% or a bit higher. The British government is considering upgrading legal same-sex civil unions to unions referred to as marriages; that could be complicated by the tepid support from the British public.

The U.K. is also behind many nations in support for adoption rights for same-sex couples. The government-sponsored survey showed that only about one third voiced support for adoption by gay couples, a right cemented by then-prime minister Tony Blair in 2002.

Read more here.