After publishing the story of Michael Vazourakis, the young Greek Australian gay man coming out in the community, Neos Kosmos’ Facebook has been inundated with well wishers and supporters.
The story garnered more than 80 comments, with most applauding the bravery of Michael in coming out to his conservative family.
Reader Angela Rakintzis called Mr Vazourakis a “great role model, especially for those in minority groups” while reader Yianni Karayannis commented he was “happy to see mostly supportive messages on this feed”.
Harsh backlash and the majority of comments were against a reader who commented “no one is ever born homosexual” and that “AIDS is a lesson from God that homosexuality is a serious sin”.
Sunday Night reporter Helen Kapalos said “please don’t use God’s name to spread your hatred and astounding ignorance, keep your cruel judgements to yourself because as you can see no one supports your myopic and ridiculous view”.
A large majority of the comments came from female Greek Australians, showing the female Greek community is slightly more accepting of homosexuality than their male counterparts.
A recent study by The Pew Research Centre found that only 53 per cent of Greeks were accepting of homosexuality in society, compared to 79 per cent of Australians.
Religious beliefs were a big indicator in low approval ratings in the survey. Countries where homosexuality is denounced by religious law like Pakistan and Jordan had a less than 4 per cent approval rating.