Introduction
In the United States and in many European countries, lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals are arguing against many of the negative depictions of homosexuality fostered by the Judeo-Christian tradition and, more recently, the field of psychology. The emergence of nineteenth century medicine and psychoanalysis challenged many traditional religious perspectives, but in certain respects it also sought to ’’validate" the long held view that homosexual women and men reflect the most base forms of human existence. A large number of social ills and perverse behaviors were, and often are, linked to homosexuality. As a consequence, homosexuals have encountered a myriad of severe labels from "psychopathological" to "criminal” as well as attempts by psychiatrists to administer lobotomies and electro-shock therapy as a means to cure their malady.
Studies show that religion also plays a major role along with gender and gender-role attitudes. People who are part of conservative religions tend to hold more hostile attitudes toward gay and lesbian individuals, however culture moderates the relationship between religiosity and attitudes. In developed nations, personal religiosity is a strong predictor. Adamcyzk and Pitt (2009) explored the effect of cultural orientation and religiosity on beliefs about homosexuality and found that countries with a survivalist orientation (i.e., cultures holding onto traditions and norms) tended to believe that homosexuality was not justifiable, whereas self-expressive countries (i.e., cultures more open to change and self-expression) had more positive evaluations (p. 340). In countries with a strong survivalist orientation, individual religious beliefs had no bearing on attitudes; overall, people were highly disapproving of homosexuality.
However, in countries with a high self-expressive orientation, personal religiosity was related to