Keywords

A first and rather casual look at the latest available data from the “global opinion barometer”, the World Values Survey, which we present in detail in Chap. 4 of this study, reveals not only that religious denominations and interpretations of religious norms and values have a lot to do with the way the global public views LGBTQ+ communities, but also that we should focus more on Islam, Orthodoxy and Catholicism in this theoretical background chapter, more or less leaving out other denominations, and also leaving out respondents with no denomination, who appear to be far less prejudiced against LGBTQ+ communities and homosexuality than other groups. Muslims and Orthodox respondents, in this our first look at the data we will be dealing with throughout this publication, hold the most negative opinions about homosexual neighbours (a phenomenon we will refer to in this essay as homonegativity) and about the justifiability of homosexuality. Roman Catholics, Muslims and Orthodox are also the most numerous denominations in the World Values Survey. These initial findings, which simply report how respondents to the World Values Survey view their gay neighbours and homosexuality, are reported here and in a sense structure our theoretical presentation, focusing on the voices to be heard in the worlds of Roman Catholicism, global Islam, and Christian Orthodoxy. The results, which, it should be emphasised, are not weighted by the population size of the countries in the WVS, nevertheless speak for themselves (Table 2.1).

Table 2.1 Global rejection of homosexual neighbours and of homosexuality by religious denomination
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The late American political scientist, Ronald F. Inglehart, arguably the most often quoted political scientist of the world today (29,751 citations in the Scopus Data Base to be found in 22,464 documents, and in addition, Inglehart was author of 55 publications which were cited 55 or more times) challenged the traditional understanding and the worldview of most global religions by saying in Inglehart et al. (2017):

But deep-rooted cultural norms change slowly. Virtually all religions that became major world faiths emphasize pro-fertility norms—and they do so vigorously, instilling the belief that violators of these norms will burn in hell for all eternity. It was necessary to make these cultural sanctions severe because pro fertility norms require repression of strong natural urges. “Thou shalt not commit adultery” goes against deep-rooted desires; requiring women to devote their lives to child-bearing and child-rearing entails major sacrifices; and defining homosexuality as sinful and unnatural imposes repression and self-hatred on gays and lesbians. These norms are no longer necessary for survival, but deep-rooted cultural norms resist change. Nevertheless, modernization brings high levels of existential security. People grow up taking survival for granted, making them more open to new norms. Inglehart et al. (2017)

The global clash of civilizations regarding homosexuality and issues of gender has reached the very centre of such institutions as the Roman Catholic Church, the dominant denomination in the Western democracies. Tausch and Obirek (2020) already warned that growing international sociological evidence based on rigorous analysis of World Values Survey data seems to suggest that more and more Roman Catholic faithful do not follow anymore the condemnation of the homosexual act as a “deadly sin,” voiced by the official, current Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church.

In the following, we will first document some analyses by national and international government bureaucracies and organizations, and NGOs about LGBTI people around the world.

2.1 FRA—The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights

The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (2020) has forcefully spoken out against the discrimination of LGBTI people. In its report, it specifies that more lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and intersex (LGBTI) people are now open about who they are but fear, violence and discrimination remain high. With 140,000 respondents, it is the largest ever survey on hate crime and discrimination against LGBTI people. “Too many LGBTI people continue to live in the shadows, afraid of being ridiculed, discriminated, or even attacked. Even though some countries have advanced LGBTI equality, our survey findings show that overall, there has been too little real progress, leaving many LGBTI people vulnerable. Their job and healthcare difficulties may worsen due to COVID-19. Policymakers should take note and do more to actively promote full respect for rights of LGBTI people,” FRA Director Michael O’Flaherty said. European Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli added: “Despite the important steps forward regarding the equality of LGBTI + people in the EU in the last years, LGBTI + people still report high levels of discrimination. More worryingly, we have recently witnessed within the EU anti-LGBTI incidents such as attacks on prides, the adoption of ‘LGBTI ideology-free zone’ declarations, fines for LGBTI-friendly advertisements and others. Everybody in the European Union should feel safe and free to be themselves.”

The ‘A long way to go for LGBTI equality’ report looked at how around 140,000 LGBTI people in the European Union, the United Kingdom, Serbia, and North Macedonia experience their human rights. It also underlines changes since FRA’s first LGBT survey carried out in 2012. Comparing the two surveys reveals little overall progress over the seven years. The EU averages mask important differences between countries. In some, over 70% LGBTI respondent say society is more tolerant, while in others, up to 68% say it is less.

2.2 Europol

The EU’s police organisation, Europol (2023) reported that in 2022, terrorist and violent extremist groups and individuals continued to exploit gaming-adjacent platforms for recruitment purposes and propaganda dissemination. IS supporters in particular created groups on gaming communication apps, dedicated to the discussion of different topics, including media operations, translation of propaganda content and religious migration. Right-wing extremist actors exploited the gaming landscape by creating right-wing extremist utopias within popular video games, for example featuring neo-Nazi recreations, anti-Semitic and anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer+ (LGBTQ+) themes. This was done mostly to appeal to a larger audience and to increase the base of young sympathisers, but also to foster a sense of community by engaging in a shared hobby.

2.3 OSCE ODIHR

The Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe, in its report, OSCE ODIHR (2023) documents the discrimination and hate crimes experienced by the LGBTI community. 300 of the 600 hate crimes, i.e., 50%, against the LGBTI community were committed in the Christian Orthodox majority OSCE member countries (in descending order of the absolute number of crimes) Russian Federation, Armenia, Ukraine, Georgia, Serbia, Greece, Belarus, Cyprus, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Romania (Tables 2.2 and 2.3).

Table 2.2 Anti-LGBTI hate crimes 2021 in the OSCE countries, 2021
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Table 2.3 Hate crimes 2021 in the OSCE countries, 2021, percentages
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The statistical analysis of OSCE data on anti-LGBT hate crimes in OSCE countries also has direct implications for debates on anti-hate crime strategies. It is somewhat surprising that at the level of the 25 EU countries for which the OSCE has provided data, i.e., all current EU countries except Malta and Luxembourg, in 2021 anti-Christian hate crimes already account for 39.5% of all hate crimes, racist and xenophobic attacks 16.8%, anti-LGBT I hate crimes 12.0%, anti-Semitic hate crimes 11.0%, anti-Muslim hate crimes 9.5%, anti-Roma hate crimes 2.1% and gender-related hate crimes 0.3%. We would like to mention however that in the wake of the Hamas October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, anti-Semitic hate crimes tremendously increased globally and also in the countries of the European Union.Footnote 1

2.4 EQUALDEX

EQUALDEX, an important think tank working in the field, has developed and documented three indices, which capture the overall, the social situation and the legal situation of the LGBTQ+ communities around the world. In EQUALDEX’s own wording, 2023, available from its website it says that the EQUALDEX's Equality Index is a rating from 0 to 100 (with 100 being the most equal) to help visualize the legal rights and public attitudes towards LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex…) people in each region. The Equality Index is an average of two indexes: a legal index and the public opinion Index. The Index shows the dramatical extent of the discrimination of the LGBTQ+ communities in the Global East and Global South (Fig. 2.1).

Fig. 2.1
A world map highlights the equality index in the range of 92 or more to negative 10.38. The equality index ranges from 46.50 to 92 or more in North and South America, Europe, Australia, few countries in Asia and southern part of Africa.

Equality index, designed by EQUALDEX, visualizing legal rights and public attitudes towards LGBTQ+ in the world and in the Euro-Mediterranean area

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2.5 KIRAS—Security Research

The study by Haberl et al. (2023), is part of the Austrian Security Research Programme KIRAS, which supports national research projects whose results contribute to the security of all members of society. The study by Haberl et al. (2023) is an opinion survey of Muslims in the Greater Vienna area, focusing on many indicators, from attitudes on religious tolerance to Antisemitism and how Muslims in the Greater Vienna area express views on homonegativity and homosexuality. Although 36,2% of all respondents in the study were very tolerant on a wide range of issues, and a further 17,7% to be tolerant (Haberl et al., 2023: 52), the study found also 7,5% of all surveyed Vienna Muslims strongly rejected pluralism, diversity, and favoured the death penalty for certain acts considered as crimes, and a further 5,4% rejected pluralism, diversity and favoured harsh body punishments. In all, 1,9% of the surveyed persons were in favour of the death penalty for homosexuals (Haberl et al., 2023: 123). The study also reveals that 12.3% of Vienna’s Muslims have a very positive opinion of the Muslim Brotherhood, and a further 14.1% a positive opinion of the Muslim Brotherhood (Haberl et al., 2023, page 90). 33.9% of Vienna’s Muslims have a very negative opinion of Israelis, and a further 18.1% a negative opinion (Haberl et al., 2023, page 101).

In the following, we can offer only some snapshots of current and often very passionately argued global debates on the problem among the world’s religious communities, to alert our readers that the analyses of the sociology of religion presented in this publication as well as our new data analyses indeed touch the centre of the debate.

2.6 Roman Catholic Religious Leaders

The teaching on homosexuality by Roman Catholicism, the Western world’s dominant religious affiliation, is clearly spelt out in the “Catechism” which is published on the Website of the Vatican and which is by the Catholic hierarchy considered to be the authentic summary of Roman Catholic doctrine:

2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.“ They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection (Catechism, 2023, available at https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P85.HTM).

As if to challenge the above-mentioned opinion of one of the world’s leading social scientists, Ronald F. Inglehart, the current Head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis I, said that the “ideology of gender” is “dangerous” (America. The Jesuit Review, 2023). The Pope’s views on gender and gender theory were given in an almost one-hour long interview with Elisabetta Piqué, Italian correspondent for La Nacion, the Argentine daily newspaper. The interview was recorded at Santa Marta, the Vatican guest house where the Pope resides. In the interview Pope Francis said, among other things:

I have always distinguished between what is pastoral [ministry] to persons who have different sexual orientations and that which is the ideology of gender. These are two different things. […] The ideology of gender is, at this time, one of the most dangerous ideological colonizations. It goes far beyond the sexual. […] Because it dilutes the differences […] The richness that is of men and women, and of all humanity, is the tension of the differences. It is to grow by means of the tension of the differences. The matter of gender is diluting the differences and making the world the same, all dull, all equal. And that goes against the human vocation.

Several important Catholic dignitaries have come out in even harsher words in this debate. The Tablet (2019) reports on an interview by the influential African Cardinal Robert Sarah in which he explains what he believes is at the heart of a sickness that is blighting the whole world. Cardinal Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship, says that the spiritual crisis that currently blights “the whole world” has its roots in Europe, because Europe has rejected God.

However, not all major decisionmakers in the Roman Catholic Church reflect this way of thinking. The National Catholic Reporter (2022) reported that German Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising spoke in front of a rainbow flag during a service marking the 20th anniversary of the LGBTQ community at St. Paul's Church in Munich on March 13, 2022. In his sermon, Munich Cardinal Reinhard Marx has called for a change in Catholic teaching on homosexuality.

The catechism is not set in stone. One may also question what it says […] Homosexuality is not a sin. It corresponds to a Christian attitude when two people, regardless of gender, stand up for each other, in joy and sorrow […] The value of love was also shown in not making the other person an object, not using him or her or humiliating him or her.

Marx added: “LGBTQ+ people are part of creation and loved by God, and we are called upon to stand against discrimination”. He also said, “Those who threaten homosexuals and anyone else with hell have understood nothing”.

Similar attitudes were reflected in Reuters, 2022, where it is reported that Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich S.J., Archbishop of Luxembourg, who is the head of the Conference of European bishops has called for “fundamental revision” in Catholic teaching on homosexuality, and said it is wrong to fire Church workers for being gay.

2.7 Orthodox Homophobia?

With 50% of the hate crimes against LGBTQ+ individuals in the OSCE region (see above) one cannot escape debating homophobic attitudes, motivated or pretended to be justified by Christian Orthodoxy. Young (2023), documented how Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, offered a startling new explanation of the war in the Ukraine. It was to save Eastern Ukraine from the gays. The patriarch summed up the situation as follows:

For eight years, there have been efforts to destroy what exists in the Donbas. What exists in the Donbas is a rejection, a principled rejection of the so‐called values that are now being offered by those who lay claim to global domination. Today, there is a certain test for loyalty to that power, a certain pass into that “happy” world, the world of excessive consumption, the world of illusory freedom. Do you know what that test is? It’s very simple but also horrific: it’s a gay parade. The demand to hold a gay parade is in fact a test for loyalty to that powerful world, and we know that if people or countries resist this demand, they are excluded from that world and treated as alien. (Patriarch Kirill, citation documented in Young, 2022)

His fifteen-minute sermon on the Eastern Orthodox holiday known as Forgiveness Sunday (the last day before Lent), the patriarch, according to Young, 2022, the Patriarch also asserted that resistance to such demands [i.e. a gay parade] is “suppressed by force,” which amounts to “forcible imposition of a sin condemned by divine law” and which means that the war for Ukraine is “not a physical but a metaphysical struggle.”

As Reuters Agency reported on December 5, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed a law expanding Russia's restrictions on the promotion of what it calls “LGBT propaganda”, effectively outlawing any public expression of LGBT behaviour or lifestyle in Russia. Under the new law, which widens Russia's interpretation of what qualifies as “LGBT propaganda”, any action or the spreading of any information that is considered an attempt to promote homosexuality in public, online, or in films, books, or advertising, could incur a heavy fine. The law expands Russia's previous law against LGBT propaganda that had banned the “demonstration” of LGBT behaviour to children. Reuters commented that it comes as the Kremlin exerts increased pressure on minority groups and opponents of Putin at home, quashing independent media groups and further stifling free speech as Moscow ramps up a decade-long campaign to promote what it says are “traditional” values. (Reuters, December 5, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-signs-law-expanding-russias-rules-against-lgbt-propaganda-2022-12-05/).

The shocking reality of the OSCE ODIHR reporting on hate crimes against homosexuals is that the Russian Federation, Armenia, Ukraine, Georgia, Serbia, and Greece alone, all countries with a solid Christian Orthodox denominational majority, in between them witnessed 289 of the 600 hate crimes against LGBTQ + individuals.

2.8 Homophobia in the Muslim World?

Leading figures from the world of Islam have come out very strongly against liberalizing the teachings on homosexuality. Ahram Online, 2017, reported that the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, the leading theological authority of Sunni Islam, Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayeb slammed what he described as calls for allowing homosexuality as a human right.

“The calls to allow homosexuality as a human right are blatant and are completely strange to eastern men… who are naturally disgusted with such deviance,” El-Tayeb said. The head of Al-Azhar also slammed calls for gender equality in inheritance and allowing non-Muslim men to marry Muslim women. El-Tayeb also criticised the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which Egypt signed in 1980 without adhering to some of the articles that do not comply with Islamic law, including those on inheritance.

And the spiritual leader of the Iranian Revolution, Khameinei (2023) simply declared that homosexuality is forbidden in all the divine religions. As Jong et al. (2023) have convincingly shown, the Iranian regime now officially describes itself as adhering to “Political Islam”. The cruelty of the regime against LGBTQ+ and women’s rights in Iran is now legendary. Solomon et al. (2023), recently analysed the challenges facing LGBTQ + individuals in the MENA region, especially in Iran, Turkey, and Egypt. Solomon et al. (2023) speak about the harsh realities and general human rights violations endured by LGBTQ+ individuals in these countries. The protection and well-being of LGBTQ+ communities in Iran, Turkey, and Egypt remain under continuous threat, ranging from oppressive legal frameworks and discriminatory policies to systemic violence and social cohesion. The current situation of LGBTQ+ rights in these countries demand immediate attention and joint efforts to effect real change. The case of Iran, Solomon et al. (2023) say, has revealed the significance of how interlocking systems of power affect those who are most marginalized in Iran. One witnesses the repressive nature of the legal system, where homosexuality is criminalized, and individuals face persecution, arbitrary arrests, and even the death penalty. Moreover, the intersection of LGBTQ+ identities with religion, gender, and class has further compounded the discrimination experienced by these communities, making it imperative to adopt intersectional solutions.

In Turkey, according to Solomon et al. (2023), a paradoxical situation emerges, with certain legal protections for LGBTQ+ individuals existing alongside social and cultural challenges. Despite constitutional guarantees of equality and non-discrimination, LGBTQ+ people still face systemic discrimination, violence, and exclusion. Although, Solomon et al. (2023), argue, Turkey’s culture is largely impacted by European values because of its geographical location, traditional Islamic values remain deeply ingrained in most of the social institutions of the country. The impact of these values on Turkish policymaking has resulted in further marginalization, stigmatization, and socially disadvantageous results for those who do not conform to the dominant hetero-normative gender norms and sexual identities. Although homosexuality is treated by Turkish law in a rather neutral way culturally, it remains a taboo subject in most areas of Turkish society, existing in a “don’t ask, don’t tell” setting.

Egypt, according to Solomon et al. (2023), presents its own set of challenges, where societal norms, religious conservatism, and an oppressive legal environment combine to marginalize and stigmatize LGBTQ+ individuals. Similarly, to Turkey, Egypt does not explicitly ban or criminalize homosexuality, but state security agencies target, criminalize and imprison LGBTQ+ individuals.

Vidino and Meleagrou-Hitchens (2022) highlight in their study that, over the last few decades, hateful rhetoric, and occasional acts of violence against the LGBTQIA + community in the United States and virtually all other Western countries have increasingly come from Islamist actors. Vidino and Meleagrou-Hitchens (2022) underline that both in the Muslim world and in the West, mainstream Islamists, such as those from Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist backgrounds, depict homosexuality as a perversion and a grave sin. Islamist anti-LGBTQIA + rhetoric takes different angles. At times, the study by Vidino and Meleagrou-Hitchens (2022) argues, focuses on warning the Muslim community about engaging in homosexual acts, evoking the divine punishments that await those who do so. The study by Vidino and Meleagrou-Hitchens (2022) highlights as well that Jihadist groups adopt even more extreme positions on homosexuality and justify killing those who engage in it. The Islamic State has been particularly ruthless in its persecution of homosexuals, enacting theatrical executions of individuals it accused of being gay and broadcasting them when it controlled territory in Syria and Iraq. The study by Vidino and Meleagrou-Hitchens (2022) also maintains that lastly, certain prominent Islamists concur with the jihadist viewpoint that, in an ideal Islamic state, the death penalty should be enforced against homosexuals. Against this backdrop, it is not surprising that in recent years the LGBTQIA+ community in the West has suffered a series of terrorist attacks perpetrated by individuals inspired by Islamist and/or jihadist ideology. Successful attacks against LGBTQIA+ targets were carried out in Orlando, Florida (2016, 49 killed), Dresden, Germany (2020, 1 killed), and Oslo, Norway (2022, 2 killed); other attacks were foiled in France, the Netherlands, the U.S. and the UK.

Surveying other high-impact studies on Islamism and homosexuality, one should first mention the qualitative field-work anthropological study by Mahdavi (2007). At great risk to the author who undertook her work as a single woman in Iran, her paper examines the sexual and social practices of young people in the country. Young people in urban areas live under the rubric of a fundamentalist, Islamist regime which restricts social freedoms such as premarital heterosexual contact, homosexual encounters, dancing, alcohol consumption and large group gatherings. Drawing on close focus research and individual and group interviews, Mahdavi (2007) seeks to analyse young people's responses to these constraints. Her findings suggest that many young adults use their ‘rebellious’ social behaviour to make political statements against a regime that dissatisfies them; saying, in their own words, that they are enacting and bringing about a ‘sexual revolution’. Kaya (2015) by contrast uses hard-core openly available social science opinion surveys to arrive at a verdict about “the culture wars” in Turkey. Kaye, 2015 assesses whether social and political attitudes became polarized in Turkish society between 1990 and 2011. Interestingly, Kaya found some evidence for rising conservatism and rejection of homosexuality, especially in the 1990s.