SWS: Homosexuals have right vs discrimination
MANILA, Philippines–Majority of Filipinos believe that homosexuals have the right to protection against discrimination, and that they have an important contribution to make to society’s progress, according to recent surveys by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).
The SWS said that 85 percent of respondents said they agreed, 5 percent disagreed and 10 percent were undecided when asked to respond to the statement, “Just like me, gays and lesbians also have the right to be protected against any form of discrimination.”
The statement was one of six specific statements about homosexual men and women that were tested in the SWS surveys conducted in June and September 2013.
The other statements measured opinion on the trustworthiness of gays and lesbians, on whether being gay or lesbian is a mental illness, on whether being gay or lesbian is contagious, and on acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) as a sickness of homosexuals.
The SWS said 54 percent agreed with the statement, “Gays or lesbians have contributed a lot in the progress of our society,” while 24 percent disagreed and 21 percent were undecided. The statement was also tested in June, when 60 percent agreed, 16 percent disagreed and 23 percent were undecided.
To the statement, “Gays or lesbians are just as trustworthy as any other Filipino,” which was tested only in the September survey, 67 percent agreed, 18 percent disagreed and 14 percent were undecided.
Fifty-four percent disagreed with the statement, “Being gay or lesbian is a form of mental illness,” which was tested only in June. Twenty-five percent agreed, while 20 percent were undecided about the statement.
To the statement “Being gay or lesbian is contagious,” tested in September, 45 percent disagreed while 38 percent agreed and 16 percent were undecided.
The only statement to elicit unfavorable opinions against homosexuals was the one that said that “AIDS can be considered as a sickness of gays and lesbians,” the SWS said in a statement last Friday. Forty-five percent agreed, 33 percent disagreed and 21 percent were undecided about the statement which was tested in September, the SWS said.
The findings were contained in a paper “Measuring Homophobia in the Philippines” that Vladymir Joseph Licudine and Ma. Leah Czarina Aldave of the SWS presented at the XVII World Congress of Sociology, in Yokohama, Japan, in July 2014.
The surveys, conducted from June 28 to June 30 and Sept. 20 to Sept. 23, 2013, used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide. It had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points.–Inquirer Research
