THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: World Values Survey: France is the least tolerant country in Western Europe, survey finds, despite the signing into law of a gay marriage bill.
The information which has been monitoring the political and moral attitudes of various countries for more than two decades, shows that countries with more economic freedom have higher degrees of tolerance.
France was the least tolerant country in Western Europe, with 28.8 per cent of the population responding that they would not want a homosexual neighbour. This contrasts with 3.6 per cent of Swedish people, 7.4 per cent of Spaniards and 11.1 per cent of Swiss. 16.8 per cent of British people would not want a homosexual neighbour.
There is a clear divide across the iron curtain, with homophobia much more common in Russia and Ukraine, while Serbia and Moldova were even less tolerant than majority Muslim Indonesia. Georgia, was the third most homophobic country surveyed, with 92.6 per cent of the population unhappy with the idea of a homosexual neighbour.
Muslim countries were among the most homophobic, with 19 out of 20 Jordanians unwilling to live near to homosexuals. Iran was close behind, with 93.2 per cent of the population intolerant. Despite their Catholic heritage, liberal attitudes predominate in Latin America, with Uruguay, Argentina and Guatemala more tolerant than some Western countries. Colombia was an outlier, with 45.9 per cent of the population unwilling to have a homosexual neighbour. » | William Clarke | Friday, May 17, 2013
