This study examines social acceptance of gays, lesbians and homosexuality as well as social attitudes towards adoption by same-sex couples on the basis of comparing Hungarian and Romanian data from two longitudinal surveys, the European Social Survey (ESS) and the European Values Study (EVS). Using descriptive statistics and ordered logistic regressions, we examine the impact of several factors that can affect attitudes towards homosexuality and adoption by same-sex couples.
The two examined societies are similar in various respects: both can be seen as – at least verbally – family-centred societies, where people consider family to be very important, and most of them agree that women as well as men have to have children in order to be fulfilled. At the same time, neither of these two countries have the legal option of joint adoption by same-sex couples. However, we expect signifi cant diff erence between the two countries regarding attitudes towards homosexuality as in Hungary the legal institution of registered partnership for same-sex couples was introduced in 2009, while in Romania no such legal institution exists as yet.
Keywords: homosexuality, same-sex adoption, European Values Study, European Social Survey

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