The article first describes how the principle of non-discrimination of homosexuals is anchored in EU legislation and influences concrete policies of the European Union. Against this background, the second section analyses citizens’ attitudes towards homosexuality and whether there are differences among the 27 EU member states and Turkey. The descriptive findings show that there are substantial differences at the national and individual level in the degree to which citizens think of homosexuality as acceptable. A sense that homosexuality is justifiable is particularly low in recently acceded countries and is almost non-existent in Turkey. Modernization theorists have argued that economic development influences the value orientation of the citizens. Other scholars have claimed that values are strongly influenced by the religious heritage of a country. Using multilevel analysis, the study tests to what extent modernization factors and/or religious factors influence citizens’ attitudes towards non-discrimination of homosexuality. According to the results of the causal analysis, modernization theory and cultural heritage theory contribute to explaining attitudes towards homosexuality. All the hypotheses derived from the two theories are supported by the statistical analysis
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