Nearly one in three adults around the
globe support marriage equality, a new survey released Tuesday found.
Thirty-two percent of respondents told
pollsters that same-sex marriage should be legal, while 45 percent
remain opposed. Another 23 percent said that they did not know.
The Geneva-based International Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) in partnership
with Logo surveyed nearly 100,000 people in 65 countries for its
first annual ILGA-RIWI Global Attitudes Survey on LGBTI People.
Support for marriage equality is lowest
in Africa (19%) and Asia (26%).
Pollsters also found that a majority
(67%) of respondents believe that human rights should be applied to
everyone regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
“All the countries surveyed returned
results over 50% in favor of this proposition, even those considered
among the most hostile to sexual and gender minorities,” said
Aengus Carroll, who co-authored the research. “This clearly
demonstrates that countries’ legal policy and international
practice can be very contradictory when compared to attitudes
declared by their citizens.”
ILGA first released findings from the
online survey in May. In that report, it found that two-thirds of
adults globally would be upset if their child told them they were in
love with another person of the same sex.