EXPLORING HOMOPHOBIA IN GEORGIA: PART 4

1) “How acceptable is it for you if a man has long hair?”

2) “How acceptable is it for you if a man wears earring(s)?”

3) “How acceptable is it for you if a woman has eyebrow piercing(s)?”

4) “How acceptable is it for you if a woman drinks strong alcohol?”

5) “How acceptable is it for you if a woman has premarital sex?”

6) “How acceptable is it for you if a man has premarital sex?”


Finally, the Wald criteria in logistic regression confirmed that low education and lack of liberal values were significant predictors of homophobic attitudes among Tbilisi adults.

Further analysis of the May 17 survey data – moderation using bootstrap – showed that people who share liberal values and personally know homosexuals are less homophobic than those who share liberal values but do not know homosexuals personally. In contrast, people who score low on the liberal attitudes scale and personally know homosexuals are even more likely to be homophobic than those who do not share liberal values and do not know homosexuals personally.

To summarize, one of the most salient predictors of homophobic attitudes in Tbilisi is level of education, even provided that, as other studies suggest, tolerance is not specifically promoted in the system of formal education. The predictive role of education, however, disappears when liberal values are added to the statistical model. As moderation analysis shows, the relationship between liberal values and homophobic attitudes is further enhanced by respondents’ personal contact with homosexuals.

These results indicate that fostering liberal attitudes through formal and non-formal education, the media as well as other channels will be a good strategy to address the problem of homophobia in Tbilisi. Concrete policy recommendations will be presented in the final blog of this series.

გაზიარება