Amongst the contemporary political questions directed to youths from 15 to 17 year olds, one was a direct question on whether they would grant the same rights to homosexuals

Question: Regardless of whether this is already the case in your country; do you think homosexuals should have the same rights as heterosexuals? 

 
As this question was deemed too sensitive for Cairo or Baghdad, it was omitted. Nevertheless, the statistics of the remaining eight cities proves to be interesting.

On the highest score front, Rio come out tops with almost close to three quarters (74%) saying yes when we would have thought New York to be first. Instead, the latter is at second place with 67% of the respondents saying yes. 15% of New Yorkers said NO but an almost equal number (16%) is unsure (don't know).

Compare this to Rio where a quarter said NO with 1% saying don't know to this question.

When you have a situation like this, assuming that the survey statistics are accurate, and comparing Rio to New York, which city would you consider to be more tolerant of gays?

It would appear that Rio is more tolerant but at the same time, with 16% of the NY respondents unsure, we can also easily assume that these are the people that gay activists could possibly win over to their side of the argument through their outreach and educational efforts. This would be harder in Rio where 25% are saying a definite NO.

Another more important question that arose when comparing Rio to New York, "Why are the teenagers in Rio more tolerant that those in New York when we would have thought to be otherwise?" Comparing Delhi to London, the results are equally confounding. Almost half in Delhi said yes as compared to 36% in London. Generation Next in Delhi seems to be more tolerant of gays as compared to London.

Note that close to 20% of Generation Next in Delhi are unsure as compared to 23% in London. If we were to add up the "don't know" and "yes" category of both countries, Delhi would still come out at 71% and London trailing behind at 59%.

Therein lies the rub. It is generally assumed that Asian, traditional and or religious societies tend to be less accepting of gays but the results in Delhi and Rio seems to say otherwise.

The survey result in Delhi especially, is a very strong argument for Asian gay activists. If Delhi, an Asian society, scores better than London, which is considered to be more liberal. The rhetoric that Asians are conservatives and hence not accepting of gays and lesbians cannot easily hold foot.

If the younger generation in Delhi is more accepting, how many of their Asian counterparts feel likewise? Note that even in Moscow, more respondents are favourable towards gays than in London. At the same time, the acceptance of gays in London is disturbing considering that almost close to 39% said NO. After all, this is the country, which legalised same sex union recently (it was only London that initially created a same-sex register).

Why are New York and London, seemingly "gay capitals" of the world, scoring much poorer as compared to other cities? Is gay activism effectively reaching out to the future generation in these cities?

Nairobi, Lagos and Jakarta respondents appear to be less tolerant with 81, 86 and 69% respectively saying NO to equal gay rights. There are also fewer respondents who are unsure to this question. Nairobi and Lagos scored 10% while Jakarta scored 5% in the "don’t know" category. What is it about these cities that make them less tolerant towards gays? Could the answer lie with the fact that these cities tend to be more religious or that they are more conservative? Could it be the result of gay activism simply not taken root in these cities?

While the survey results might not be totally accurate, it does challenge our perception on how people tolerant and accepting of towards gays.

To summarize, the survey questions our belief that gay rights would only progress (and not regress) with the newer generation. Yet close to 47% of the total respondents are unwilling to give gays equal rights. Societies we thought to be gay capitals did not score too well when compared to other less "gay" cities. Less tolerant cities also tend to be more polarized in their views without a "in the middle - cushion" group.