Conclusion

The concluding chapter summarizes the book’s major contributions, addresses some important remaining issues, and anticipates how legislation is likely to proceed in the future. The chapter touches on three major religions (Eastern Orthodoxy, Hinduism, and Judaism), which do not receive much attention in other parts of the book. There is also a discussion of public opinion in Russia, which has received a lot of attention for its critical comments and policies. Additionally, this chapter examines cross-national developments in homosexuality-related legislation over the last twenty years. Across the world, many countries seem to be adopting friendlier policies, but there also appears to be a small backlash, often coming from nations with less political, economic, and media power. The backlash provides insight into why we should not expect all nations to march into the future with increasingly tolerant views.

Investigating Public Opinion in Confucian Nations

A substantial portion of the world’s people reside in countries where Buddhism, Taoism, and systems of ancestral belief dominate. To understand the factors shaping attitudes in these places, this chapter (and the next) examines Confucian nations. These societies (i.e., China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Vietnam, and Hong Kong) are more tolerant than many Islamic, Middle Eastern, and African nations, but they are less supportive than countries in the Global North. Using data from the World Values Survey, this chapter shows that Confucianism has created a culture in which family stability and kinship ties are particularly valued. As a result, concerns about keeping the family intact and the importance of blood relationships are particularly important in shaping residents’ views about homosexuality.

Understanding Views in Muslim Countries

This chapter tells the story of public opinion about homosexuality in Turkey, Malaysia, and Indonesia, each of which has a substantial proportion of Muslims and highly religious residents. Similar to the selection of Protestant nations, these three countries vary in their level of democracy, economic development, and attitudes about homosexuality. This chapter also uses information from over four hundred newspaper articles from these nations. The findings reveal that Turkey is more likely to frame homosexuality as a rights and civil liberties issue. Conversely, Malaysia is less likely to mention not only rights but also morality and religion. The various frames used to discuss homosexuality are tied to some of the unique factors manifested in the historical, political, and cultural contexts of these nations, as well as anticipated patterns related to economic development, democracy, and the religious context.

The Importance of Religion, and the Role of Individual Differences

Drawing on an original analysis of the last three waves of World Values Survey, this chapter explores the role of a nation’s religious context and individual demographic factors for shaping cross-national attitudes. Ideas drawn from rational choice theories of religion and religious contextual effects provide theoretical insight into how personal religious beliefs and overall levels of religious belief shape attitudes. The analysis shows that more religious residents and residents of nations with high levels of religious belief are more likely to disapprove of homosexuality. Distinctions are also drawn between the various major religions. Nations with a substantial number of people who adhere to Islam, Eastern Orthodoxy, and a variety of Protestant faiths tend to have residents with more conservative views than those living in majority Catholic and mainline Protestant nations. The chapter ends by assessing the individual demographic factors that shape attitudes.

The Importance of Democracy and Economic Development

This chapter examines the roles of economic development and democracy for shaping attitudes, and it tests competing arguments for other macro-level processes. Theoretical insight from the works of Inglehart, Schwartz, and Hofstede are used to explain why economic development would be associated with cross-national differences in attitudes. The potential macro-level influence of education, gender and economic inequality, and nongovernment organizations are also considered. However, a multilevel analysis of World Values Survey data shows that they do not appear to have an effect in light of the influences of religion, economic development, and democracy. The chapter ends by discussing the limitations with survey data for understanding cross-national attitudes and makes the case for the usefulness of country case studies to better understand how religion, economic development, and democracy shape attitudes within individual nations.

Shaping Attitudes in Taiwan

Chapter 7 contextualizes the quantitative findings presented in the previous chapter by presenting a case study of Taiwan, which is a prosperous and relatively democratic society. This chapter draws on field research that includes twenty-six interviews that were conducted with journalists, nonprofit organizations, and religious and political figures. The chapter shows that same-sex behaviors are a problem in Taiwan in part because of concerns related to the importance of kinship ties and bloodlines. Additionally, many Taiwanese do not personally know someone who is gay or lesbian; many seem relatively tolerant until they consider the possibility of a gay or lesbian family member. The chapter ends by revealing the surprisingly powerful role that Christianity and the Unification Church, which include less than 10 percent of the Taiwanese population, have had in organizing the movement against homosexuality.

Shaping Attitudes in Protestant Nations

Having presented the major factors that are most likely to shape cross-national public opinion, this chapter is the first of three to take a comparative case-study approach to investigating how the specific cultural and historical processes, along with these other macro-forces, are likely to shape attitudes. The three case-study nations are the United States, Uganda, and South Africa, all of which have relatively high levels of religious belief and include a mixture of different Christian and Protestant faiths. They differ in their level of economic development, their strength of democracy, and the extent to which they support homosexuality. In addition to other data sources, this chapter presents the findings from an original content analysis of almost four hundred newspaper articles. While religion, democracy, and economic development are important, the processes through which they have an effect are subject to the unique historical (i.e., apartheid) and cultural (i.e., feelings of Western infringement) contexts of these nations.

Introduction

The introductory chapter opens with an overview of the massive divide in public opinion about homosexuality and laws related to it across the world. The introduction poses the question of why attitudes about homosexuality differ so substantially across the globe, and it discusses the book’s mixed-methods research design, which is used to investigate this issue. Using explanatory sequential design, this chapter unpacks how the book’s analysis will proceed, starting with an examination of survey data from almost ninety societies. The chapter explains how the cross-national quantitative data fit with the three comparative country case-study chapters that focus on nations that have majority Protestant, Muslim, and Catholic populations. There is also a discussion about how the quantitative examination of attitudes in Confucian societies fits with the Taiwanese interviews, which are used to better understand the forces shaping residents’ attitudes.

The Relatively Liberal Views of People from Catholic-Majority Countries

The fifth chapter focuses on Spain, Italy, and Brazil. These nations all have strong Catholic histories, but they vary in the extent to which residents find religion important. The Catholic Church cannot be described as particularly tolerant of homosexuality, but Catholic-majority nations tend to have more liberal residents than mixed Protestant and Muslim-majority societies. This chapter provides the rationale for why residents living in many Catholic societies tend to be more tolerant. The answer is related, in part, to a decline in religious belief, even as residents continue to affiliate as Catholic; a focus on the faith’s emphasis on social justice over strict adherence to religious precepts; and the type of relationship the church has had with these nations’ recent dictators.