Survey: Majority of Estonians intolerant of same-sex relationships
According to the results of one recent survey, 58 percent of Estonians find that same-sex sexual relationships are never justified.
The objective of the survey conducted this January by the Institute for Social Research and Turu-uuringute AS was to map the values of Estonian citizens. Among other questions, the survey asked respondents about their attitudes toward homosexuality.
"While Olev Remsu wrote in Postimees on March 24 that we do not know exactly what society’s attitudes toward homosexuality are, in reality people’s views on this issue have indeed been mapped," explained Institute for Social Research analyst Art Johanson.
In January of this year, respondents were asked to rate on a scale of 1-10 whether same-sex sexual relationships were never justified, always justified or somewhere in between.
According to the results, 58 percent of people rated the issue a 1, indicating that they believed that same-sex sexual relationships were never justified.
A total of 71 percent of respondents, whose ratings ranged from 1-4 points, believed that same-sex sexual relationships were rather not justified.
17 percent of respondents, whose ratings ranged from 6-10, found the matter to be rather or always justified.
In a similar survey on values commissioned by the Institute for Social Research one year prior, 53 percent of respondents were of the opinion that homosexuality was never justified.
"This data shows that society’s attitudes toward homosexual relationships are clearly negative," Johanson said.
Nearly 2 out of 5 against having gay neighbors
In response to a related question, 38 percent of respondents indicated that they would not want gay neighbors, down just one percent from the previous year. Thus homosexuality is not considered to be justified, however the majority of people will nonetheless tolerate gay people living next to them.
In January of this year, Turu-uuringute AS conducted 795 in-person interviews with Estonian citizens aged 18 year older.
Editor: Aili Vahtla