53% Indians Support Legalisation of Same-Sex Marriages: Pew Global Survey

India is among the few countries where respondents said religion was important but also backed same-sex unions.

A new survey by Washington-based Pew Research Center, released on 13 June, found that 53 percent of Indians are in favour of legalising same-sex marriage.

This is particularly significant as the Narendra Modi-led central government has been opposing marriage equality in response to a batch of pleas filed in the Supreme Court earlier this year.

The think tank's Spring 2023 Global Attitudes Survey was conducted among 3,500 Americans and over 27,000 non-US residents between March and May this year. India is in the top three countries surveyed for the study, in terms of the percentage of population.

Among those surveyed, 28 percent 'strongly favour' and 25 percent 'somewhat favour' the legal recognition of same-sex marriages. On the other hand, 43 percent 'totally oppose' such unions while 31 percent 'strongly oppose' them. At least 12 percent of those surveyed 'somewhat oppose' same-sex marriages, while 4 percent chose to leave the question unanswered.

Where Does India Stand Globally?

Ninety-two percent of adults surveyed in Sweden support same-sex marriage, with the country garnering the highest support. Nigeria saw the lowest support with just two percent of people backing it. Kenya, Indonesia, and Hungary also saw low levels of acceptance.

European countries saw the highest number of respondents supporting same-sex marriage – with 89 percent in the Netherlands, 87 percent in Spain, 82 percent in France, and 80 percent in Germany. It is to be noted that the union is legally allowed in all these countries.

Among European nations, Poland and Greece saw less than 50 percent of people supporting same-sex marriage; in both countries, these unions are not legalised.

India, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Australia, and Japan are among the exceptions that saw more than 50 percent of respondents showing acceptance.

Religion & Same-Sex Marriage

Interestingly, India and Brazil are the only countries that showed that they 'consider religion to be important', but at the same time, showed over 50 percent acceptance of same-sex marriages.

Countries where a higher percentage of respondents said religion was important to them – like Indonesia, Kenya, and Russia – showed lower acceptance of same-sex marriage.

For instance, all respondents in Indonesia said that religion was important to them. But only 5 percent showed their support for same-sex marriages.

However, in India, 94 percent said that religion is important to them, and in Brazil, 89 percent of respondents said the same. In the latter nation, 52 percent showed their support for same-sex marriages.