Pew Research offers interesting analysis of attitudes towards homosexuality worldwide.
Changes in opinion since 2007 -
I was particularly surprised by the low tolerance for homosexuality in Russia. Most of us think of Russia as atheistic and somewhat amoral. And yet we learn from the polling data that it is traditionalist and resistant to Western sexual decadence in regards to homosexuality. From the Associated Press today:
MOSCOW (AP) — A bill that stigmatizes gay people and bans giving children any information about homosexuality won overwhelming approval Tuesday in Russia's lower house of parliament.
Hours before the State Duma passed the Kremlin-backed law in a 436-0 vote with one abstention, more than two dozen protesterswere attacked by hundreds of anti-gay activists and then detained by police.
The bill banning the "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations" still needs to be passed by the appointed upper house and signed into law by President Vladimir Putin, but neither step is in doubt.
The measure is part of an effort to promote traditional Russian values instead of Western liberalism, which the Kremlin and theRussian Orthodox Church see as corrupting Russian youth and contributing to the protests against Putin's rule. . . .
The legislation will impose hefty fines for providing information about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community to minors or holding gay pride rallies. Those breaking the law will be fined up to 5,000 rubles ($156) for an individual and up to 1 million rubles ($31,000) for a company, including media organizations.
Foreign citizens arrested under the new law can be deported or jailed for up to 15 days and then deported. European gay rights activists have joined Russians in trying to hold gay pride rallies in Moscow in recent years. [more . . .]