Belgians heterosexuals’ attitudes toward homosexual couples and families

D'Amore, Salvatore [Université de Liège] Green, JR [Université de Liège] Scali, Therese [Université de Liège] Liberati, Giulia [UCL] Haxhe, Stéphanie [Université de Liège]

In Belgium, marriage and adoption for gays and lesbians are legal since respectively 2003 and 2006. Despite the legalization, public opinion is still not unanimous and some heterosexuals continue to disapprove those families. This study aims at examining the correlated variables of positive and negative attitudes toward same-sex marriage and same-sex parenting. Attitudes were assessed through self-report questionnaires in a cohort of 3663 heterosexual participants that are resident in Belgium, 47% Females, 53% males aged from 18 to 61. It is hypothesized that correlates of positive attitudes toward SSM and GLP will be associated with female gender, lower religiosity, liberal political ideology, and higher education and socioeconomic status. Results suggest that females are significantly more favorable than males toward same-sex marriage. People aged between 18 and 25 are significantly more favorable than older age groups. Atheists/agnostics are significantly more favorable than all religious groups. Left-wing individuals are significantly more favorable than right-wing. Females are significantly more favorable than males toward same-sex parents. These preliminary results seem to confirm our hypothesis and underline the interest of this study.