Sexual Minorities, Civil Rights, and Romanians’ Resistance to Social Change
Sexual Minorities, Civil Rights, and Romanians’ Resistance to Social Change

Summary/Abstract: Using as a data source the 2015 Special Eurobarometer, the present analysis tries to identify the individual-level factors more likely to predict the Romanians’ opposition to equal rights for sexual minorities (including marriage equality rights). Although more than half of the Romanians tend to oppose equal rights for LGBT persons and seven out of ten respondents do not favor the legalization of same-sex marriage throughout Europe, as prior research has shown, the social context, as well as personal characteristics and life experiences, influence significantly variations in Romanians’ attitudes regarding LGBT rights. Specifically, findings indicate that heterosexist attitudes are more likely to be expressed by individuals who belong to minority religious groups, such as Catholics and adherents to Christian denominations other than the Orthodox Church, persons over 55 years old, those who regard themselves as being part of the working/low-middle classes, residents of South Muntenia and the South East, and persons who do not have access to or do not use modern communication systems. Conversely, support for LGBT rights is higher among those who acknowledge interpersonal contacts with LGBT persons, have higher levels of social acceptance of sexual and gender minorities in various spheres of the public life and in the family, and identify with the European Union’s norms and values.

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