Monitoring Acceptance of homosexuality in the Netherlands

Abstract

Promoting acceptance of homosexuality is the main objective of current Dutch policy on the emancipation of gays and lesbians. At the request of Ronald Plasterk, the former Dutch government minister with responsibility for this policy, the Netherlands Institute for Social Research/SCP is monitoring developments in society in this regard. This preliminary publication, which precedes a report to be published in June 2010, contains data from population surveys. What are the attitudes of the Dutch public to homosexuality? What trends are taking place in those attitudes? How does the Netherlands compare with other European countries in this regard? And which groups in society hold relatively negative attitudes towards homosexuality?