SOUTH AFRICANS SAY HOMOSEXUALITY IMMORAL
An activist protests against LGBTI hate crimes outside the Constitutional Court in Johannesburg at last year’s People’s Pride.
The majority of South Africans continue to see homosexuality as morally unacceptable, according to the results of a global survey on morality.
The Pew Research Centre’s 2013 Global Attitudes survey asked 40,117 people in 40 countries what they thought about eight topics often discussed as moral issues: extramarital affairs, gambling, homosexuality, abortion, premarital sex, alcohol consumption, divorce, and the use of contraceptives.
The results show that South Africans are an overwhelmingly conservative bunch. It turns out homosexuality is the second most morally objectionable issue on the list; with 62% of South Africans declaring it unacceptable.
Only eighteen percent said that being gay is acceptable while 12% believe that it is not a moral issue at all.
The most morally objectionable topic in the country was extramarital affairs, with 65% of South Africans opposed to them. Sixty-one percent are also against abortion, 48% reject premarital sex and 40% are against gambling and divorce.
Information released by the Pew Research Centre last year found that 61% of South Africans believe that homosexuality should not be accepted by society.
The alarming results confirm that most South Africans’ views and beliefs are in conflict with our Constitution and that we have a long way to go before its progressive values are adopted by the public.
The country with the highest rate of anti-gay views in the world is Ghana, with a whopping 98% of its citizens seeing homosexuality as morally unacceptable.
Surprisingly, despite its strong Catholic heritage, Spain turned out to be the most accepting country when it comes to gays and lesbians; only 6% of Spaniards believe that homosexuality is unacceptable.
I sometimes wonder if I should leave South Africa.
Ditto – If I had the money I certainly would – it is very expensive to live in Europe the USA or Australia though and some of us might have left it too late – SA is such a low class and parasitic nation
I feel that conservative Christianity is the root of this issue, as people with strong Christian believes have immense tunnel vision and cannot see past fact, fiction, true spirituality, science and myth. It is very ironic, seeing that our divorce rate stands at 63% (against the ’10 Commandments’). People have no moral issue with that, in practice… The dutch reform church do not wish to support or in many cases recognize catholic views, yet they have no issue in making the Catholic assembled holy book the root of their believe – The Bible. Another point of concern is the government’s failure to issue education to people in SA, about our constitution and the living humanity behind each person. The ANC has ignored the two most important departments: Education and Health (health which also includes psychology). The constitution is our only refuge. If that should fall appart, I’ll be on a plane going abroad.
We are really a nation of stark contradictions…
We have an incredibly high HIV infection rate, no doubt due to extramarital affairs and premarital sex. We also have an alarming number of teenage pregnancies, which isn’t new but escalating and rather heavy reliance on child grants (often by unwed) mothers yet this nation feels strongly about premarital sex and extramarital affairs… Bullshit!
Our people must walk the walk and stop being hypocrites. They claim racism and sexism is bad yet other forms of discrimination such as homophobia and xenophobia (which aren’t fears but hate) are acceptable…
It seems the moments I feel embarrassed to be South African are becoming too frequent.
Can’t say I’m surprised! I always liked Spanish n Spaniards r a hot buch nice to know they’re so cool
Surveys are misleading. To get a true reflection of the opinion of South Africans, they would need to canvas the opinions of ALL South Africans – which they did not. This survey is therefore only a reflection of the opinions of 62% OF THE SOUTH AFRICANS WHO PARTICIPATED in their survey.
Further, it seems that in their view, human nature is “morally unacceptable” – but hatred and victimization of other people and abuse of their human rights is? Hypocrites! It seems to me most South Africans would be more concerned about actual problems in our country like corrupt officials and abuses of power, the flagging economy, unemployment and political escapades. Scapegoating minorities is a favorite distraction used by politicians when they want to avert attention of the public to their own illicit activities.
Well we all know what a repulsive nation this is – so no surprises here