Approximately 60% of Americans in the United States see homosexuality as either “morally acceptable” or “not a moral issue,” according to a new Pew Research Center survey of citizens in 25 countries. However, male respondents, older people, and Protestants in many of the countries surveyed were more likely than women, younger people, and Catholics to view homosexuality as morally unacceptable.

In the survey, 39% of the survey’s U.S. adult respondents said they see homosexuality as morally unacceptable – far more than the 5% who feel the same in Germany and Sweden, but far fewer than the 93% in Indonesia or 96% in Nigeria who feel the same way.

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Unsurprisingly, countries that recognize same-sex marriage, LGBTQ+-inclusive social policies, and welcoming cultural attitudes towards gay, lesbian, and bisexual people tended to view homosexuality as either morally acceptable or not a moral issue.

Comparatively, African and Asian countries with harsh anti-LGBTQ+ laws and no legalized same-sex unions or queer-inclusive anti-discrimination measures were more likely to view homosexuality as morally unacceptable.

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Compared to the U.S., higher majorities of respondents in South Korea, South Africa, and Israel all viewed homosexuality as morally unacceptable; possibly as a result of anti-gay social conservatives and a lack of gay, lesbian, and bisexual visibility in popular media. South Africa is the only one of those countries that has marriage equality.

Researchers noted that, in many of the countries surveyed, men were about 10 percentage points more likely than women to view homosexuality as morally unacceptable: In Greece, men were twice as likely as women to view homosexuality as morally wrong (40% vs. 20%).

Protestants were also typically more likely than Catholics to view homosexuality as wrong. In the U.S., 59% of Protestants said homosexuality is morally wrong, while only 34% of Catholics felt the same.

Overall, older adults were more likely than younger adults to see behaviors as morally unacceptable. 

Interestingly, among all 25 countries’ respondents collectively, only 28% saw homosexuality as morally unacceptable, whereas 38% saw it as morally acceptable, and 30% saw it as not a moral issue at all.

While 28% saw homosexuality as morally unacceptable, only 24% saw drinking alcohol as morally unacceptable. While some might think that a majority of respondents around the world view alcohol use more positively than same-sex relationships, that isn’t true — 38% said they view homosexuality as morally acceptable, but only 36% said the same about drinking alcohol.

Comparatively, 49% of all 25 countries’ respondents see gambling or viewing pornography as morally wrong, 52% feel the same about cannabis use, and 77% feel the same about having an extra-marital affair.

Majorities of respondents in all 25 countries saw getting a divorce and using contraceptives as more morally acceptable than homosexuality. Approximately 51% saw having an abortion as either morally acceptable or not a moral issue.

The survey also found that people in several countries are less likely today than they were in 2013 to say that homosexuality is morally unacceptable, possibly as a result of exposure to same-sex relationships in real life and the media.

One of the survey’s other findings revealed that Americans are more likely to view their fellow residents as morally and ethically bad than as morally good. In fact, the U.S. was the only country in the survey where respondents said they viewed their compatriots’ ethics and morals more negatively than positively.

While 47% of U.S. respondents said they viewed the ethics and morality of people in their country as either “somewhat good” or “very good,” 53% said they viewed them as either “somewhat bad” or very bad.”

“Because we have never asked this question before, we don’t know whether a majority of Americans have long held a skeptical view of the ethics of fellow Americans, or if it’s something new – and if so, what’s driving it. But partisan politics appear to play a role,” the research group wrote of its survey results.

Researchers noted that Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents were much more likely than Republicans and Republican leaners to rate fellow Americans as morally and ethically bad (60% vs. 46%). Previous research shows that rising numbers of both Republicans and Democrats view people in the other party as immoral.

However, researchers also said, “This partisan pattern is not unique to the U.S.” In fact, in more than half of the countries surveyed, people unsupportive of the governing party are more likely to view their fellow citizens as immoral, likely due to severe disagreements over social and cultural policies embraced by the governing party.

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