BBC World Poll: Teens Nix Gay Rights

The BBC World Service has just released the results of a worldwide poll that posed a wide variety of questions to young people aged 15-17 in London, New York, Rio, Delhi, Moscow, Cairo, Baghdad,, Lagos, Nairobi and Jakarta. Topics covered included terrorism, climate change and homosexuality, the last one revealing that almost half of teens worldwide do not believe gays deserve equal rights.

Rio has the highest support for gay rights, with 74% of teens there saying they backed equal rights for homosexuals. Next up was New York with 67% and Delhi with 51%. In Africa, things are much, much worse, with Lagos (86%) and Nairobi (81%) teens overwhelmingly stating opposition to gay rights.

I continue to be impressed with Brazil, where the government's progressive gay-positive media campaign can be at least partially credited here. As for Africa, I'd be interested in seeing a comparison between these opinions and relative levels of education in the other cities.