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Homophobia Seen Rising In European Countries Without Same-Sex Marriage

Hungarian researches analyzed results from the European Social Survey and it looks like homophobia has risen in European countries that do not legally recognize same-sex relationships. At the same time acceptance of gay and lesbian relationships have risen in countries where gay marriage is legal.


“I think it is very important that we can unlearn prejudice,” Judit Takacs, a researcher at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and one of the study’s authors, said.

“It’s a very serious message that you can learn to be ... open-minded, and you can learn to be intolerant,” she continues.




Same-sex marriage is legal in 14 of the 48 European countries, while 21 countries allow neither same-sex marriage nor civil partnerships.


The European Social Survey “asked participants to rate their agreement with the statement ‘gay men and lesbians should be free to live their own life as they wish’ on a scale from 1-5.”


“Russia scored the lowest in 2016, with an average of two, and the highest scores came from Belgium, Spain, Norway, France, Sweden, the Netherlands and Iceland.


Spain and Portugal, where gay marriage is legal, and Cyprus, Italy and Greece, which allow same-sex civil partnerships, saw the biggest positive changes, according to the analysis of 334,000 survey answers.


Although the study did not show whether legalizing same-sex marriage caused a decrease in homophobia, Takacs said legislation could help to normalize same-sex relationships.


“It highlights the role of the state. It’s a great responsibility of our politicians how they lead us, and what kind of messages they sponsor,” Takacs said.


“You can see how for example, in my country the Orban regime they organize this propaganda message about migrants or against gays and lesbians. And it works.”





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