Het homohuwelijk na invoering: Voor- en tegenstanders [Gay marriage after its introduction: Supporters and objectors]

Abstract

Sixty-five percent of the Dutch population disagrees largely or completely with the statement that gay marriage should be abolished, whereas sixteen percent agrees to it. In this article, we show which characteristics increase the likelihood to reject gay marriage. With information on family of origin, we show that the perception of mother’s attitude towards homosexuality during one’s youth strongly affects rejecting gay marriage. But the strongest determinant comes from socialization by ways of religious institutions. Here, attending religious services is more important than the distinction between various denominations. A lower education enhances particularly the chance to be neutral regarding abolishing gay marriage, whereas field of education has no effect. Moreover, we show that men and non-western immigrants have a larger likelihood to reject gay marriage.