Burundi’s President Evariste Ndayishimiye launched a virulent anti-gay tirade on Friday, saying same-sex couples should be publicly stoned.
He also lashed out at Western countries that press other nations to allow gay rights or risk losing aid.
Homosexuality in Burundi, a conservative Christian country in East Africa, has been criminalised since 2009 with prison terms of up to two years for consensual same-sex acts.
Opposition to LGBTQ rights in modern Russia started under Stalin who was a supporter of the League of Militant Atheists and an avowed enemy to all religions. Soviet leaders after Stalin continued and in some cases intensified his anti-LGBTQ policies. Modern Russia simply inherited hostility for LGBTQ from pro-atheist USSR.
It’s worth noting the Bolsheviks decriminalized homosexuality prior to Stalin taking power. Point is neither a religious nor atheist society will necessarily be better for LGBTQ rights. It depends on what flavor of religion or atheism is dominating society.
You can very clearly see a trend where the more pro-LGBT countries are the less religious.
I haven’t seen any studies, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re right. However, less religious is not the same as atheist or anti-religion.
There are plenty of folks that identify as LGBTQ as well as their allies that believe in God and may even participate or quasi-participate in organized religion. They will present arguments like, “God made them this way so who am I to hate them?” or, “We are all God’s children,” or what have you.
Anyways, an atheistic society doesn’t guarantee an LGBTQ-friendly society.
We can also see lack of LGBTQ protections in Mainland China which is overwhelmingly atheist.