Homophobia and Discrimination on

<strong>Homophobia</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Discrimination</strong> on Grounds of Sexual Orientation <strong>and</strong> Gender Identity in the EU Member States
34
Attitudes towards allowing same-sex marriages throughout Europe 33
Attitudes towards homosexuals ‘as neighbours’ <strong>and</strong> attitudes towards ‘same-sex
marriage’ in the different Member States, as recorded by the Eurobarometer survey,
correlate to a large extent with the level of family rights accessible to LGBT persons. The
most positive attitudes tend to be found in Member States with some kind of legal
recognition of same-sex partnerships. This could indicate a relationship between public
attitudes <strong>and</strong> partnership recognition. As the Ombudsman 34 in Spain stated, the
introduction of same-sex marriage seems to have improved attitudes towards LGBT
persons.
‘The culture of the country has changed in a definable way as a result of civil
partnerships. And here is what I think is really interesting, that the change in the culture
<strong>and</strong> the civilising effect of it has gone far greater than the gay <strong>and</strong> lesbian community. In
other words, by taking a st<strong>and</strong> on this issue <strong>and</strong> by removing a piece of prejudice <strong>and</strong>
discrimination, <strong>and</strong> by enabling people to st<strong>and</strong> proud as what they are, it has had an
33 Eurobarometer 66 (2006), p. 43, available at
http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/eb/eb66/eb66_en.pdf , (16.12.2008)
34 Fieldwork meeting with El Defensor del Pueblo [the Ombudsman], March 13, 2008