Homophobia in Russia: Public opinion in Russia tends to be among the most hostile toward homosexuality in the world—outside predominantly Muslim countries and some parts of Asia—and the level of intolerance has been rising.[15] A 2013 survey found that 74% of Russians said homosexuality should not be accepted by society (up from 60% in 2002), compared to 16% who said that homosexuality should be accepted by society.[16] In a 2007 survey, 68% of Russians said homosexuality is always wrong (54%) or almost always wrong (14%).[17] In a 2005 poll, 44% of Russians were in favor of making homosexual acts between consenting adults a criminal act;[18] at the same time, 43% of Russians supported a legal ban on discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.[18] In 2013, 16% of Russians surveyed said that gay people should be isolated from society, 22% said they should be forced to undergo treatment, and 5% said homosexuals should be "liquidated".[19]
Same-Sex Marriage: Neither same-sex marriages nor civil unions of same-sex couples are allowed in Russia. In July 2013, Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, of which approximately 80% of Russians are members, said that the idea of same-sex marriage was "a very dangerous sign of the Apocalypse".[20] At a 2011 press conference, the head of the Moscow Registry Office, Irina Muravyova, declared: "Attempts by same-sex couples to marry both in Moscow and elsewhere in Russia are doomed to fail. We live in a civil society, we are guided by the federal law, [and] by the Constitution that clearly says: marriage in Russia is between a man and a woman. Such a marriage [same-sex] cannot be contracted in Russia."[21] The vast majority of the Russian public are also against same-sex marriage.[