A new study by researchers at NORC at the University of Chicago and the LGBT think-tank Williams Institute has shown a general increase in LGBT acceptance across the world.
The study, entitled ‘Public Attitudes toward Homosexuality and Gay Rights across Time and Countries’, examined the responses to 2000 survey questions asked in hundreds of surveys between 1981 and present to determine levels of acceptance of homosexuality and its variation according to time and place.
The study says that acceptance of homosexuality has grown in 90% of countries surveyed over the last 20 years.
The research indicated that acceptance rose at an average of 0.9& annually.
Andrew Park, director of International Programs at the Williams Institute, said the following in a statement:
“This study shows a clear trend toward increasing acceptance across the globe,” he said.
The study found that women are on average one and a half times more likely to be accepting of lesbian and gay people than men. It also found that in 98% of countries, those under 30 were more likely to be accepting of homosexuality, and that people remained accepting as they grew older.
Researchers ranked countries in Northwestern Europe as the most accepting, followed by “Australia/Canada/New Zealand/United States, Southern European countries, Latin American countries, former Soviet Union/Eastern & Central Europe, Asian countries, African countries, and majority Muslim countries.”
You can read the full report here.
How can Australia be up there with the ‘most accepting countries’ when we still don’t allow gay marriage? We still have a long way to go to deserve such a title.