22 Apr Spain tops list of countries most accepting of homosexuality
Pew Research revealed which nations are the most accepting of homosexuality. Attitudes towards homosexuality did not necessarily reflect or correspond with national legalization of same-sex marriage.European countries were the most likely to be accepting.
The country with the most progressive attitude towards homosexuality was Spain. A mere 6 percent said that homosexuality was morally unacceptable, a whopping 55 percent said it was morally acceptable, and another 38 percent felt it wasn’t a moral issue at all.
Spain became the third country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage in 2005.
Germany came second on the list for its liberal attitudes: only 8 percent said homosexuality was morally unacceptable while 51 percent said it was morally acceptable and 38 percent said it wasn’t a moral issue. However, same-sex marriage has not been legalized in Germany yet.
France, where thousands of anti-same-sex marriage protesters took to the streets of Paris and Lyon en masse prior to legalization in 2013, with only 14 percent stating that homosexuality was morally unacceptable, 36 saying it was morally acceptable, and 50 percent saying it wasn’t a moral issue.
Although Canada was the fourth country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage, the country came fifth on the list of countries surveyed (after the Czech Republic), with 15 percent deeming homosexuality as morally unacceptable. However, 30 percent said it morally acceptable and 50 percent said it was not a moral issue. (Canada and France tied for the countries with the largest percentages who think homosexuality isn’t a moral issue.)
Canada was followed by Britain, Australia, Italy, and Argentina.
The most accepting Asian country on the list was Japan, with 31 percent regarding being gay as morally unacceptable, 38 percent as morally acceptable, and 25 percent deeming it not a moral issue. The country was 10th on the list.
Just as same-sex marriage makes patchwork progress in the United States, American responses were equally mixed: 37 percent said same-sex relations are morally unacceptable, only 23 percent said it was morally acceptable and 35 percent said it was not a moral issue. It came 12th on the list.
Even though South Africa became the sixth country to legalize same-sex marriage in 2006, attitudes towards homosexuality were still very intolerant: 62 percent said it was morally objectionable while only 18 percent said it was acceptable and a mere 12 percent thought it wasn’t a moral issue.
In India, where homosexuality was recently criminalized, 67 percent of those surveyed saw being gay as morally unacceptable. Meanwhile, in Russia, where much international attention has been focused on its anti-gay laws, 72 percent found homosexuality morally objectionable.
Rounding out the bottom of the list were Egypt , Jordan , and Ghana.
Source: Straight