No Rainbow in Russia – Opinion Polls on Homosexuality

More than 20 years after the fall of the USSR, Russia – and the other republics, too – remain deeply averse to the public expression of homosexuality. The Russian Spectrum makes available the results of two Levada polls, from March and May of this year, in an attempt to quantify this “homophobia” over the years.

Public Opinion about Homosexuality

Basic Attitudes

In your opinion, homosexuality is primarily…?

In your opinion, how should homosexuals be treated? {Translator: Three different versions of the answers have been offered for this question over the years)

Answer set #1:

Answer set #2:

Answer set #3:

Do you think that consenting adults have the right to form a relationship with a member of the same sex?

Social Aspects

Are your afraid that your children or grandchildren might become victims of homosexual propaganda?

Would you be for or against gays and lesbians having parades in Russia’s big cities?

Do you support legalizing gay marriage in Russia?

Do you think homosexuals should have the right to adopt children?

The Government’s Role

Do you support anti-discrimination laws and forbidding hate speech as regards homosexuals?

Do you consider that the state should suppress any public manifestations of homosexuality and its propaganda?

What do you think about the law proposed in the Duma banning homosexual propaganda? {Translator: Actually, propaganda of homosexuality to children}

What do you think is the main motivator behind the passing of the ban against homosexual propaganda?

Translator’s Note

A couple of important points follow from the above observations:

(1) While it is “conventional wisdom” in the MSM that the Kremlin’s recent morality campaign is an attempt to “divert attention from corruption scandals” and “split society,” that is not the view of a majority of Russians – who, it appears, overwhelmingly support the laws against homosexual propaganda to minors (indeed, many of them think those measures aren’t nearly enough). These are observations, not moral judgments one way or the other.

(2) To the modern Western reader, especially from the younger cohorts, these views may make Russia seem to be a thoroughly barbaric and irredeemable country. Again, it is not our mission here at the TRS to either support that line of argument, refute it, or embrace the reaction. What we think is a good idea, though, is to set those numbers in a historical and international context.

The percentage of Russians favoring legalizing gay marriage – a question that has been asked in many countries – ranged from 14% in 2010, to 10% in 2012 and 5% in 2013. This is somewhat comparable to the least supportive EU countries (Romania – 11%, Latvia – 12%, Greece and Bulgaria – 15%) and not drastically lower than in Poland (17%), Hungary (18%), or Estonia (21%), as well as the least supportive US state, aka Utah. It is certainly not atypical for its neighborhood, which is pretty much entirely “homophobic” regardless of their purported level of democratic development (e.g. see the recent Georgian clashes, or the recent poll in which 95% of Ukrainians said they were against gay marriage).

Second, it should be borne in mind that the timescale during which gay marriage has moved from being an absurdity to being accepted by the majority has been incredibly rapid. In 1988, which is I suppose when pollsters first began to think of posing the question, the percentage of Americans who supported gay marriage was about 11%, i.e. about the same as in Russia today. But in the space of a single generation, it has solidified into a majority. (And a generation before 1988, it was downright illegal).

We hope that the above numbers may help move the debate from one dominated by rhetoric to something more factual and contextualized.