Relationship Between Religious Background, Intergroup Contact, and Acceptance of LGBT in Malaysia

Attitudes towards homosexuality have been found to vary with religious background and contact with LGBT individuals. Intergroupcontact may result in more favourable attitudes towards homosexuality and research has suggested that the people who are more open to gender non-conformity may be young, female and non-religiously affiliated. However, in the Malaysian context, the degree of acceptance towards LGBT in relation to religious background and intergroup contact is not well understood. The study examined the relationship between religious background, intergroup contact and acceptance of LGBT in Malaysia. The specific objectives of the studyareto determine: (1)thelevel of intergroup contact with LGBT individualsfor respondents from different religious backgrounds; (2) the degree of acceptance towards LGBT individualsfor respondents from different religious backgrounds; and (3) relationship between intergroup contact and acceptance towards LGBT individuals. The questionnaire data were from 364heterosexual Malaysian respondents from various age, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. The results showed that about half of respondents have direct contact with LGBT individuals as in having close friends who are LGBT or knowing a LGBT couple but very few have attended a marriage ceremony for LGBT couples, are in a romantic relationship with LGBT individuals or are LGBT themselves. A majority of the respondents know the challenges of LGBT individuals through reading about them but few have taken active steps to expresspublicsupport for LGBT. The respondents can accept it if they found out their friends, neighbours, colleagues,educators and close relatives are LGBT but are not as tolerant if their child or religious leader is GBT. The acceptance of LGBT individuals is significantly correlated with religious background and extent of intergroup contact with LGBT individuals.

这项研究探讨了宗教背景和群际接触对马来西亚LGBT群体接受度的影响。研究特别关注三个方面：不同宗教背景的受访者与LGBT群体的接触程度；不同宗教背景受访者对LGBT群体的接受程度；群际接触与LGBT群体接受度之间的关系。

这项描述性研究包括364名受访者，他们填写了关于群际接触和LGBT接受度的问卷。研究重点是异性恋者与LGBT群体的群际接触。受访者来自马来西亚各州，年龄大多数在21至30岁之间，大多数为华裔，且具有不同的宗教背景（佛教、基督教、伊斯兰教）。问卷包括三部分内容：人口统计信息、与LGBT群体的接触程度（11个项目）以及对LGBT群体的接受度（10个项目）。问卷使用七点Likert量表，经过内容专家验证，且通过预实验得到了高内部一致性。数据分析使用SPSS v26软件，计算均值和标准差，使用皮尔逊相关测试检验群际接触与LGBT接受度之间的关系，并通过方差分析（ANOVA）检测不同宗教群体之间的显著差异。

本研究表明，马来西亚人对LGBT个体的接触程度适中，他们了解一些LGBT个体，并理解他们在马来西亚作为LGBT的困境。尽管群际接触水平适中，大多数马来西亚人对LGBT群体持较高的接受态度，前提是这些LGBT个体不是他们的孩子或宗教领袖。研究发现，宗教背景、群际接触与LGBT接受度之间存在显著关系。然而，该研究的局限性在于大多数受访者是年轻的华裔大学生，因此研究结果的普遍性受到限制。未来的研究应探讨宗教信仰如何影响异性恋者和LGBT个体对LGBT的态度，特别是他们如何解决宗教教义、平等与人权之间可能存在的矛盾。这类研究将为异性恋马来西亚人在社交生活中拥有LGBT朋友的经历提供更多洞见。