Restrictions of association with arrest or detention
Rings indicate local or case-by-case application. 1No imprisonment in the past three years or moratorium on law. 2Marriage not available locally. Some jurisdictions may perform other types of partnerships.
Laws concerning gender identity-expression by country or territory
Legal identity change, surgery not required
Legal identity change, surgery required
No legal identity change
Unknown/Ambiguous
Notably, as of February 2024[update], 36 countries recognize same-sex marriage.[1][2] By contrast, not counting non-state actors and extrajudicial killings, only two countries are believed to impose the death penalty on consensual same-sex sexual acts: Iran and Afghanistan.[3][4][5][6] The death penalty is officially law, but generally not practiced, in Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Somalia (in the autonomous state of Jubaland) and the United Arab Emirates.[7][8] LGBT people also face extrajudicial killings in the Russian region of Chechnya.[9]Sudan rescinded its unenforced death penalty for anal sex (hetero- or homosexual) in 2020. Fifteen countries have stoning on the books as a penalty for adultery, which (in light of the illegality of gay marriage in those countries) would by default include gay sex, but this is enforced by the legal authorities in Iran and Nigeria (in the northern third of the country).[10][11][12][13][14]
sodomy laws that penalize consensual same-sex sexual activity. These may or may not target homosexuals, males or males and females, or leave some homosexual acts legal.
Ayoni or non-vaginal sex of all types is punishable in the Arthashastra. Homosexual acts are, however, treated as a smaller offence punishable by a fine, while unlawful heterosexual sex carries much harsher punishment. The Dharmsastras, especially the later ones, prescribe against non-vaginal sex like the Vashistha Dharmasutra. The Yājñavalkya Smṛti prescribes fines for such acts including those with other men. Manusmriti prescribes light punishments for such acts.[20][21] Vanita states that the verses about punishment for a sex between female and a maiden is due to its strong emphasis on a maiden's sexual purity.[22]
Ancient Israel
The ancient Law of Moses (the Torah) forbids men from lying with men (i.e., from having intercourse) in Leviticus 18 and gives a story of attempted homosexual rape in Genesis 19, in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, after which the cities were soon destroyed with "brimstone and fire, from the Lord"[23][24] and the death penalty was prescribed to its inhabitants – and to Lot's wife, who was turned into a pillar of salt because she turned back to watch the cities' destruction.[25][26] In Deuteronomy 22:5, cross-dressing is condemned as "abominable".[27][28]
Assyria
In Assyrian society, sex crimes were punished identically whether they were homosexual or heterosexual.[29] An individual faced no punishment for penetrating someone of equal social class, a cult prostitute, or with someone whose gender roles were not considered solidly masculine.[29] Such sexual relations were even seen as good fortune, with an Akkadian tablet, the Šumma ālu, reading, "If a man copulates with his equal from the rear, he becomes the leader among his peers and brothers".[30][31] However, homosexual relationships with fellow soldiers, slaves, royal attendants, or those where a social better was submissive or penetrated, were treated as bad omens.[32][33]
Middle Assyrian Law Codes dating 1075 BC has a particularly harsh law for homosexuality in the military, which reads: "If a man have intercourse with his brother-in-arms, they shall turn him into a eunuch."[34][35][36] A similar law code reads, "If a seignior lay with his neighbor, when they have prosecuted him (and) convicted him, they shall lie with him (and) turn him into a eunuch". This law code condemns a situation that involves homosexual rape. Any Assyrian male could visit a prostitute or lie with another male, just as long as false rumors or forced sex were not involved with another male.[37]
Ancient Rome
In ancient Rome, the bodies of citizen youths were strictly off-limits, and the Lex Scantinia imposed penalties on those who committed a sex crime (stuprum) against a freeborn male minor.[38] Acceptable same-sex partners were males excluded from legal protections as citizens: slaves, male prostitutes, and the infames, entertainers or others who might be technically free but whose lifestyles set them outside the law.
A male citizen who willingly performed oral sex or received anal sex was disparaged, but there is only limited evidence of legal penalties against these men.[39] In courtroom and political rhetoric, charges of effeminacy and passive sexual behaviors were directed particularly at "democratic" politicians (populares) such as Julius Caesar and Mark Antony.[40]
Roman law addressed the rape of a male citizen as early as the 2nd century BC when it was ruled that even a man who was "disreputable and questionable" had the same right as other citizens not to have his body subjected to forced sex.[41] A law probably dating to the dictatorship of Julius Caesar defined rape as forced sex against "boy, woman, or anyone"; the rapist was subject to execution, a rare penalty in Roman law.[42] A male classified as infamis, such as a prostitute or actor, could not as a matter of law be raped, nor could a slave, who was legally classified as property; the slave's owner, however, could prosecute the rapist for property damage.[43]
In the Roman army of the Republic, sex among fellow soldiers violated the decorum against intercourse with citizens and was subject to harsh penalties, including death,[44] as a violation of military discipline.[45] The Greek historian Polybius (2nd century BC) lists deserters, thieves, perjurers, and "those who in youth have abused their persons" as subject to the fustuarium, clubbing to death.[46] Ancient sources are most concerned with the effects of sexual harassment by officers, but the young soldier who brought an accusation against his superior needed to show that he had not willingly taken the passive role or prostituted himself.[47] Soldiers were free to have relations with their male slaves;[48] the use of a fellow citizen-soldier's body was prohibited, not homosexual behaviors per se.[49] By the late Republic and throughout the Imperial period, there is increasing evidence that men whose lifestyle marked them as "homosexual" in the modern sense served openly.[50]
Although Roman law did not recognize marriage between men, and in general Romans regarded marriage as a heterosexual union with the primary purpose of producing children, in the early Imperial period some male couples were celebrating traditional marriage rites. Juvenal remarks with disapproval that his friends often attended such ceremonies.[51] The emperor Nero had two marriages to men, once as the bride (with a freedmanPythagoras) and once as the groom. His consort Sporus appeared in public as Nero's wife wearing the regalia that was customary for the Roman empress.[52]
Apart from measures to protect the prerogatives of citizens, the prosecution of homosexuality as a general crime began in the 3rd century of the Christian era when male prostitution was banned by Philip the Arab. By the end of the 4th century, after the Roman Empire had come under Christian rule, passive homosexuality was punishable by burning.[53] "Death by sword" was the punishment for a "man coupling like a woman" under the Theodosian Code.[54] Under Justinian, all same-sex acts, passive or active, no matter who the partners are, were declared contrary to nature and punishable by death.[55]
British Empire
The United Kingdom introduced anti-homosexuality laws throughout its colonies, particularly in the 19th century when the British Empire was at its peak.[56] As of 2018, more than half of the 71 countries that criminalised homosexuality were former British colonies or protectorates.[57]
Note that for simplicity the table below does not distinguish between 'legal' and 'lawful'. An action can only be legal or illegal where a specific law has been passed.
Laws regarding same-sex sexuality by country or territory
Restrictions of association with arrest or detention
Rings indicate local or case-by-case application. 1No imprisonment in the past three years or moratorium on law. 2Marriage not available locally. Some jurisdictions may perform other types of partnerships.
Oppose Countries which signed a 2008 statement opposing LGBT rights (initially 57 members, now 54 members after withdrawal of Fiji, Rwanda and Sierra Leone)
Neither Countries which, as regards the UN, have expressed neither official support nor opposition to LGBT rights (44 members)
Note that while this template lists several historical countries, such as the Kingdom of France, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, etc., for the sake of clarity, the flags shown are contemporary flags.
Illegal since 1966 Penalty: Up to 3 years imprisonment with fines up to 10,000 dinars.[61] Torture,[62] beatings,[63] or vigilante executions are also common.
/ Ambiguous. Male de jure legal, but de facto illegal since 2000 Penalty: Up to 17 years imprisonment with or without hard labour and with or without fines under broadly-written morality laws.[64][72]
Male illegal since 1861 (as the Sierra Leone Colony and Protectorate) Penalty: Up to life imprisonment (Not enforced, repeal disputed). Female always legal + UN decl. sign.[64]
Illegal since 1864 (only Zanzibar) Illegal since 1899 Penalty: Up to life imprisonment.[64][92] Vigilante executions, beatings and torture[129][130] are also tolerated.
Male illegal since 1902 (as Protectorate) Female illegal since 2000 Penalty: Life imprisonment, Death penalty in some cases, Beatings, torture, or vigilante execution. [131][132]
Constitutional ban since 2005
Indian Ocean states
LGBT rights in:
Same-sex sexual activity
Recognition of same-sex unions
Same-sex marriage
Adoption by same-sex couples
LGB people allowed to serve openly in military
Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation
Transgender people can change their gender and name without completion of medical intervention and human rights protections explicitly include gender identity or expression within all of Canada since 2017[171][172][173][174]
/ Legal in Mexico City (2010),[186] Coahuila (2014), Chihuahua (2015), Jalisco (2016), Michoacán (2016), Colima (2016), Morelos (2016), Campeche (2016), Veracruz (2016), Baja California (2017), Querétaro (2017), Chiapas (2017), Puebla (2017), Aguascalientes (2018), San Luis Potosi (2019), Hidalgo (2019), Yucatán (2021), Nayarit (2022), Quintana Roo (2022), Baja California Sur (2022), Durango, Tamaulipas, and Nuevo León (the latter three never had adoption bans)[187][188]
(ambiguous)
Bans all anti-gay discrimination[189]Pathologization or attempted treatment of sexual orientation by mental health professionals illegal in Mexico City (2020), México (2020), Baja California Sur (2020), Colima (2021), Tlaxcala (2021), Oaxaca (2021), Yucatán (2021), Zacatecas (2021), Baja California (2022), Hidalgo (2022), Jalisco (2022), Puebla (2022), Sonora (2022), Nuevo León (2022), Querétaro (2023), Sinaloa (2023), Quintana Roo (2023), and Morelos (2023)
/ Transgender persons can change their legal gender and name in Mexico City (2008),[190] Michoacán (2017), Nayarit (2017), Coahuila (2018), Hidalgo (2019), San Luis Potosí (2019), Colima (2019), Baja California (2019), Oaxaca (2019), Tlaxcala (2019), Chihuahua (2019), Sonora (2020), Jalisco (2020), Quintana Roo (2020), Puebla (2021), Baja California Sur (2021), México (2021), Morelos (2021), Sinaloa (2022), Zacatecas (2022), Durango (2023), and Yucatán (2024) [191]
/ Lesbians, gays, and bisexuals have been allowed to serve openly in the U.S. military since 2011, following the repeal of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. Transgender people have been allowed to serve openly since 2021.[196] "Transvestites" are currently banned from the military since 2012.[197] Most openly Intersex people may be banned from the military under the Armed Forces ban of "hermaphrodites".[197]
/ Transgender persons can change their legal name without surgeries or judicial permission since 2018. Legal gender cannot be changed. Sex indicator removed from all ID cards issued since May 2018[207][208][209] One-time sex change allowed for passports. [210]
Transgender persons can change their legal gender and name without surgeries or judicial order since 2012[267]
Transgender persons have a law reserving 1% of Argentina's public sector jobs. Economic incentives included in the new law aim to help trans people find work in all sectors.[268]
Transgender people can change their legal gender and name before a notary without the need of surgeries or judicial order since 2018. The sex reassignment surgery, hormonal and psychological treatment are offered free of charge by the Brazilian Unified Health System (UHS) [289][290][291]
Transsexual persons can change their registral sex and name since 1974. Transgender persons can change their registral sex and name, no surgeries or judicial order for adults above 18 years old since 2019.[297]
Since 2015, transgender persons can change their legal gender and name manifesting their solemn will before a notary, no surgeries or judicial order required[303]
Transgender persons can change their legal gender and name without surgeries or judicial order required since 2009.[338] Self-determination since 2018.
/ Ambiguous. Male de jure legal, but de facto illegal since 2000 Penalty: Up to 17 years imprisonment with or without hard labour and with or without fines under broadly-written morality laws.[64][358]
Illegal Penalty: 74 lashes for immature men and death penalty for mature men (Although there are documented cases of minors executed because of their sexual orientation)[361]. For women, 100 lashes for women of mature sound mind and if consenting. Death penalty offense after fourth conviction.[64]
Almost full recognition of gender's ID without a surgery or medical intervention (Excluding changing gender and name in birth certificate) ;[372] equal employment opportunity law bars discrimination based on gender identity[373][374][375]
/ Ambiguous. Illegal under Article 534 of the Penal Code. Some judges have ruled not to prosecute individuals based on the law, however, this has not been settled by the Supreme Court and thus homosexuality is still illegal.[380] However, a 2017 court ruling claims that it is legal, but the law against it is still in place. Penalty: Up to 1 year imprisonment (rarely enforced).
Legal gender change allowed, but sex reassignment surgery required[381]
Illegal Penalty: Prison sentences of several months to life, fines, castration, torture or death can be sentenced on first conviction. A second conviction merits execution. Homosexuality itself, not just performed acts, can be considered illegal in Saudi Arabia.[64]
In September 2016, the Government passed Federal Decree No 4, a series of changes to reduce doctors' criminal liability. The new law allows doctors to perform medical intervention on intersex people so as to "correct" their sex, effectively removing either the male or female genitalia. Sex reassignment surgery remains illegal. [402][403][404] Laws used to criminalize gender expression.
Illegal (codified in 1994) Penalty: Unmarried men punished with 100 lashes of the whip or a maximum of one year of imprisonment, stoning for adultery is not enforced. Women punished up to three years of imprisonment; where the offense has been committed under duress, the punishment is up to seven years detention.[64]
South Asia
LGBT rights in:
Same-sex sexual activity
Recognition of same-sex unions
Same-sex marriage
Adoption by same-sex couples
LGBT people allowed to serve openly in military?
Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation
/ Discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity prohibited by court decision. No nationwide law.[411][412][413]
A third gender option (hijra) besides male and female is available; transgender people have a constitutional right to change gender, only after medical/surgical intervention[414][413]
Illegal (codified in 2014) Penalty: Up to 8 years imprisonment, house arrest, lashings and fines. (unenforced)[415] LGBTQ welcomed in tourist islands [416]
/ Transgender people allowed to change legal gender, but only after sex reassignment surgery. However, it is difficult to change the gender information of educational attainments and academic degrees for lack of legal procedures, even after sex reassignment surgery[422], which has caused discrimination against well-educated trans women[423].
Stepchild adoption since 2019 Joint adoption legal since 2023[436]
Constitutionally bans all anti-gay discrimination from government[437]; several laws banning anti-gay discrimination regarding education and employment.[438][439]
Transgender people allowed to change legal gender, but only after sex reassignment surgery.[e]
Southeast Asia
LGBT rights in
Same-sex sexual activity
Recognition of relationships
Same-sex marriage
Adoption by same-sex couples
LGBT people allowed to serve openly in military?
Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation
Illegal since 1871 Penalty: fines, prison sentence (2–20 years), or whippings.[64][447]
LGBT individuals may adopt, but not same-sex couples
Generally impossible to change gender. However, a 2016 court ruling recognizes gender changes as fundamental constitutional rights[448] Forms of gender expression are criminalized.
LGBT individuals may adopt, but not same-sex couples[454][453]
Since 2009
/ Bans some anti-gay discrimination in certain cities and provinces,[455] including the City of Manila,[456]Cebu City,[457] Quezon City,[458] and Davao City;[459] Nationwide anti-bullying law for basic education students.[460]
Generally impossible to change legal gender. However in Cagandahan vs Philippines, allowed an intersex man to change his legal gender from female to male.
/ Stepchild adoption legal in 20/27 member states; joint adoption legal in 17/27 member states
Legal in all member states
Membership requires a state to ban discrimination based on person's sexual orientation in employment. 4/27 states ban some anti-gay discrimination. 23/27 states ban all anti-gay discrimination
Legal in East Germany since 1968 Legal in West Germany since 1969; equal age of consent since 1988 in East Germany and since 1994 in unified Germany + UN decl. sign.[64][486]
Registered life partnerships from 2001 to 2017 (existing partnerships and new foreign partnerships still recognised)[487][488]
/ Unregistered cohabitation since 2012; registered partnership proposed 2019
Constitutional ban since 1997[514] (Article 18 of the Constitution is generally interpreted as limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples[515][516][517][518][519][520])[f]
LGBT individuals may adopt, but not same-sex couples[522]
Legal since 1962 (As part of Czechoslovakia); equal age of consent since 1990 + UN decl. sign.[64]
/ some limited rights for unregistered cohabiting same-sex couples since 2018; Limited residency rights for married same-sex couples since 2018 (Proposed)
Constitutional ban since 2014
LGBT individuals may adopt, but not same-sex couples[525]
/ Banned from military service during peacetime, but during wartime homosexuals are permitted to enlist as partially able[553]
/ (Highly bureaucratic, lengthy two-stage process: deciding body meets only twice a year; permission for medical or surgical interventions only at the second stage. Flaw in passport conversion whereby passport number may reveal former designation of sex to agencies.)[554]
Male legal since 1993 Female always legal[340][64] Illegal in practice in Chechnya, where homosexuals are abducted and sent to concentration camps based on their perceived sexual orientation.
Act on the elimination of discrimination bans all discrimination based on both gender identity and gender expression. Gender change is regulated by special policy issued by Ministry of Health.[648]
Legal from 1858, when nominally a vassal of the Ottoman Empire to 1860,[680] and again since 1994 (As part of Yugoslavia); equal age of consent since 2006 + UN decl. sign.[64]
Legal since 1983; equal age of consent since 2012 + UN decl. sign.[717][718][64]
Civil partnerships performed in the UK abroad recognised for succession purposes in inheritance and other matters respecting interests in property since 2012[719][720] Legal cohabitation since 2017[721]
Legal since 2017 in Guernsey, since 2018 in Alderney, and since 2020 in Sark[722] [723]
Transgender people are allowed to change their legal gender and to have their new gender recognised as a result of the Gender Recognition Act 2009 (c.11)[745][746]
Female always legal. Male legal in England and Wales since 1967, in Scotland since 1981, and in Northern Ireland since 1982; equal age of consent since 2001 + UN decl. sign.[64]
Always legal for women. Male legal in some states and territories since 1975, nationwide since 1997. Tasmania was the last state to legalise male homosexuality; Equal age of consent in some states and territories since 1975, nationwide since 2016. + UN decl. sign.[64]
Covered under the "sex discrimination" provision of the Human Rights Act 1993; From July 2023, change of sex on a birth certificate by self-determination.[790][791]
Melanesia
LGBT rights in:
Same-sex sexual activity
Recognition of same-sex unions
Same-sex marriage
Adoption by same-sex couples
LGBT people allowed to serve openly in military?
Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation
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LGBT portal
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