gayness ‘worse than divorce and euthanasia’ – study

By Ntando Makhubu (Daily Dispatch)

August 29, 2007: While most South Africans view homosexuality as more acceptable than prostitution or abortion, they still regard it as worse than mercy killing or divorce.

And many do not want to live next door to gay, drug addicted or heavy drinking neighbours.

This is according to a nationwide public opinion survey of values by market research company Markinor and the University of Stellenbosch’s Centre for International and Comparative Politics.

The survey revealed that while South Africans were becoming more tolerant of different races and cultures, they appeared to have a lingering intolerance of many moral values connected to individual rights.

Markinor director Mari Harris said the respondents scored homosexuality, prostitution, abortion, euthanasia and divorce below five on a scale of one to 10 (10 being the best).

Opinions on gay neighbours varied – they were not acceptable to 48 percent of blacks, 26 percent of whites, 37 percent of coloureds and 39 percent of Indians.

But despite South Africans being quite negative towards gays, they nevertheless taught their children to be tolerant towards them.

While Harris said that most South Africans were happy, the trustworthy index was “severely lacking”. Only about 20 percent of South Africans believed that most people could be trusted. Black people had less trust in their countrymen than whites or Indians.

Churches fared best in this category – with 85 percent of the respondents trusting them. The president and television followed with 75 percent each.

Harris said the survey had also looked at spousal abuse – nearly 10 percent of South Africans said men were always or mostly justified in beating their wives.

“Only 74 percent said this was never justifiable,” Harris said.

Glenn de Swardt, research manager for the research organisation Triangle Projects, said the bias against homosexuals was “a true reflection of the prejudice found in certain elements of South Africa”.

To blatantly say one would not live next door to homosexuals was a view born of an ignorance – which was widespread in South Africa.

“Homosexuals do not grow their gardens in a particular way, they do not grow different flowers nor do they speak a different language,” he said, adding that many people might be living next door to or even with gay people but did not know it.