November 11, 2009
Greece and Cyprus most anti-gay countries in Europe
Discrimination against LGBT people is worse in Europe’s Mediterranean countries, with more people in Cyprus, Greece, Italy and France believing that discrimination against LGBT people is widespread in their country.
A new opinion survey released by the European Commission reveals that around one in six people in Europe claim to have personally experienced discrimination on the basis of race, religion, age, disability or sexual orientation in the past year.
Discrimination due to age and disability are seen as the greatest problems, with 64% of people expecting the economic downturn to lead to more age discrimination in the job market.
Across the whole of Europe, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is considered to be less widespread in 2009 compared to 2008.
47% of Europeans believe that discrimination against LGBT is widespread. The figure rises to 66% for Cyprus, 64% for Greece and 61% for both Italy and France.
People from countries which are new to the EU believe that LGBT discrimination is far less of a problem in their country. Just 22% of people in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic consider discrimination against LGBT to be widespread. The figure is 27% for Slovakia and 28% for Estonia.
Critically, people from the Eastern European countries which reported low levels of LGBT discrimination were also found to have a lower than average number of LGBT friends.
Across Europe, 38% of survey respondents said they had LGBT friends. However in Bulgaria only 7% of those surveyed had LGBT friends. The figure is 20% for the Czech Republic, 15% for Slovakia and 17% for Estonia.
The highest reported number of gay friends was in The Netherlands (68%), Sweden and France (both 59%).
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April 22, 2012
I’m part Cypriot – spent most of my childhood and teens there, but I was fortunate enough to have a liberal, supportive mum who’d grown up in London and go to a school attended by a wide variety of nationalities. (Which probably explains how I got away with my early sexual exploration. That, and us not telling anyone else. Ever.)
I only came out to my (semi-estranged) father last year, although everyone else in my life has known for years. He didn’t take it too well, even though he has gay friends and colleagues.
His attitude wasn’t one of offended tradition (although I would expect many from these Greek Orthodox countries to respond in that way), but instead a rather one of offended propriety and a patronising concern that I was acting out and putting my career prospects at risk. (I work in the media. In London. How do *you* think my being queer has affected my treatment at work?)
As most loving parents do, my dad seems to be very slowly getting used to the idea (or at least less generally pissed off/bemused with me). But it’s definitely Something Of Which We Shall Never Speak Again. It’s been made quite clear that the wider family aren’t to know. Personally, I don’t spend enough time with them to care one way or the other, but my Dad’s lack of support was, if not exactly shocking, a massive disappointment.
Religious imperatives notwithstanding, we’re talking about a culture that has a very strong sense of propriety. This is sometimes positive – looking out for your neighbours, your family, the people around. But it also means that anything deviation from the norm can interpreted very much as an insult to society as a whole.
Let’s not forget, we’re talking about a country where hymen reconstruction is a profitable business.
Obviously, I meant to say “any deviation from the norm”. Must not comment after a couple of glasses of wine…
I thought hymen reconstruction was popular in japan; don’t tell me Cyprus too!
is it just being lesbian or maybe your dad is uncomfortable with discussing your sexuality. Mine is. He supports me totally, but he doesn’t want to talk about it;-)
I’m also Roman polytheist, maybe when the Greek polytheists are more populus, attituded will really change.