The Changing Map of Marriage Equality - Homophobia = Islam and Ignorance

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The Economist has an article that looks at the progress same sex marriage around the globe.  The map above reflects the current state of marriage equality.  On the international level one thing that immediately struck me is that nations that criminalize homosexuality directly correlate with the nations with Islamic extremist governments and nations with the lowest levels of education and highest level of ignorance throughout their populations.  On the domestic front in America, one could say there seems to be a similar correlations between bans on marriage equality and uneducated states with large numbers of unhinged conservative Christians - the Christian Taliban, if you will.  Here are highlights from the Economist article:

Just a dozen years after the Netherlands became the world’s first country to legalise gay nuptials, the global trend toward giving homosexuals full marriage rights seems to have gained unstoppable momentum. Same-sex marriage is now legal nationwide in 11 countries (see map), including Argentina and South Africa, as well as in parts of a further two. In Mexico it is allowed in the capital. In America nine states along with the capital have legalised it, mostly as a result of court challenges.

That said, in 78 countries—mostly in the Muslim world, Africa and other developing states—gay sex is still a crime, punishable by long prison terms and even death. Opposition against gay marriage remains fierce, particularly from churches, conservatives and some politicians. 

But attitudes are changing—and fast. Fifty years ago homosexuality itself was still a crime throughout most of the world. Britain decriminalised it only in 1967 and it was not until 2003 that America’s Supreme Court struck down the remaining sodomy laws in 14 states. Now, across most of the West, polls show a majority of public opinion in favour of equality for gays, including allowing them to marry and adopt children. Ten years ago two-thirds of Americans were opposed to gay marriage; now more than half, including most Catholics, are in favour. Similar trends can be seen in other Western countries.

Why this rapid shift, which has taken even many activists by surprise? It is partly generational. Younger people, brought up in a more tolerant age, simply cannot understand what all the fuss is about. But it is also a result of changing behaviour among gays themselves. As homophobic laws have fallen, so more homosexuals have come out. And as their straight neighbours see them leading normal happy family lives—including bringing up children—without the world falling apart, they become more widely accepted.

At the same time, the churches, most of which regard gay sex as a sin, are losing some of their influence. A recent survey of Americans’ religious beliefs by the Pew Research Centre showed one in five adults saying they had no religious affiliation—double the proportion 20 years ago. Three-quarters of these so-called “Nones” support gay marriage. In another study, 42% of Britons described themselves as atheists or agnostics—three times as many as in the early 1960s. In France only 7% of Catholics continue to attend mass at least once a week; 58%, including three-quarters of those aged under 35, never go.

The lesson from all of this?  That both politicians and Church leaders in western countries need to change their anti-gay stance or potentially suffer extinction.  As for the Islamic world and Africa?  The current powers that be should be terrified of efforts to increase education levels because nothing fuels homophobia more than ignorance and lack of education.  Which probably explains why the Christianist constantly seek to dumb down public education to their own levels of ignorance and superstition.