Most Russians want ‘gay propaganda’ to be banned – poll

(Interfax – June 11, 2013) Russians have become more intolerable to homosexuality over the past few years, and the share of opponents of same-sex marriages has grown, the VTSIOM pollster has reported.

Eighty-eight percent of Russian citizens welcome the proposed ban on the propaganda of homosexuality, compared to 86 percent in 2012, and only 7 percent support it.

“A relative majority of respondents (42 percent) said homosexual relations must carry criminal liability, compared to 19 percent in 2007. Twenty-five percent said homosexuality must be publicly scorned (compared to 18 percent in 2007), 15 percent proposed imposing fines on homosexuals (compared to 12 percent in 2007) and 15 percent said it is an individual’s private affair (compared to 34 percent in 2007),” VTSIOM said in a press release, received by Interfax on Tuesday.

The poll was conducted in 134 localities in 42 regions among 1,600 respondents on June 8 and 9.

Most Russians have a negative attitude to homosexuality: 54 percent said it must be banned and even prosecuted, 33 percent proposed curbing it (compared to 21 percent in 2007) and only 9 percent said it should be neither banned, nor curbed.

The percentage of opponents of same-sex marriages increased from 59 percent in 2005 to 86 percent in 2013, the share of those who think same-sex couples have the right to officially marry dropped from 14 to 4 percent, and that of those who partially agree and partially disagree with this dropped from 17 to 6 percent.

The Russian State Duma is debating a bill banning the propaganda of homosexuality among minors in its third and second readings on Tuesday.