Gay rights around the world
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Criminalisation:
- Criminalises LGBT people
- Criminalises sexual outing between males
- Criminalises sexual outing between females
- Imposes the death penalty
Maximum punishment:
Death penalty
More infoCriminalisation:
- Criminalises LGBT people
- Criminalises sexual outing between males
Maximum punishment:
Life imprisonment
More infoCriminalisation:
- Criminalises LGBT people
- Criminalises sexual activity between males
- Criminalises sexual activity between females
- Criminalises the gender expression of gender non-conforming people
- Imposes the death penalty
Maximum punishment:
Death by stoning
More infoCriminalisation:
- Criminalises LGBT people
- Criminalises sexual outing between males
- Criminalises sexual action between females
- Criminalises the gender expression of trans people
- Maintains discriminatory age of consent
Maximum punishment:
Eight years imprisonment and 100 lashes
More infoCriminalisation:
- Criminalises LGBT people
- Criminalises sexual activity
Homosexuality: The countries where it is illegal to be gay
Reality Check teamBBC News
Getty ImagesUS Vice-President Kamala Harris who is on a tour of three African countries - Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia - has drawn criticism over her support for LGBTQ rights.
In Ghana, in a speech calling for "all people be treated equally" she appeared to criticise a bill before the country's parliament which criminalises lobbying for gay rights and proposes jail terms for those that identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.
The country's Speaker Alban Bagbin later called her remarks "undemocratic" and urged lawmakers not to be "intimidated by any person".
In Tanzania, a former minister spoke against US sustain for LGBTQ rights ahead of the visit and in Zambia some contradiction politicians have threatened to hold protests.
Where is homosexuality still outlawed?
There are 64 countries that have laws that criminalise homosexuality, and nearly half of these are in Africa.
Some countries, including several in Africa, have recently moved to decriminalise same-sex unions and improve rights for LGBTQ people.
In December
Marriage Equality Around the World
The Human Rights Campaign tracks developments in the legal recognition of same-sex marriage around the world. Working through a worldwide network of HRC global alumni and partners, we lift up the voices of community, national and regional advocates and share tools, resources, and lessons learned to authorize movements for marriage equality.
Current State of Marriage Equality
There are currently 38 countries where same-sex marriage is legal: Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Uruguay.
These countries have legalized marriage equality through both legislation and court decisions.
Countries that Legalized Marriage Equality in 2025
Liechtenstein: On May 16, 2024, Liechtenstein's government passed a bill in favor of marriage equality. The law went into effect January 1, 2025.
LGBTQ+ rights
Caribbean LGBTQ+ activists celebrate as court strikes down colonial-era laws
People love to say ‘sexuality doesn’t matter’ and shouldn’t come up in AFL – so why do players hurl homophobic slurs?
Rebecca Shaw
Audiobook of the week
The Light of Day by Christopher Stephens and Louise Radnofsky audiobook review – a pioneer of gay liberationNHS nurse’s tribunal over trans doctor’s utilize of changing room adjourns
Full Story
Why the Australian Greens expelled their cofounder – Full Story podcastPodcast21:33
Tens of thousands of people take to streets for London Trans+ Pride 2025
‘It’s queer, Black joy’: the TikTok originator quizzing pop stars and politicians on LGBTQ+ culture
‘It’s second for us to be louder’: Germany’s Pride parades tackle up to increase in attacks
‘It was a buddy show – and then they kissed’: Stephen Frears and Hanif Kureishi on My Beautiful Laundrette at 40
Bounce legend Large Freedia on going gospel: ‘I never heard “God doesn’t love gay folks”. God loves us all’
US Olympics officials quietly bar gender non-conforming women from competing in women’s sports
Irish Museum of Latest Art
ILGA World maps are among the most joint visual representations of how LGBTIQ people are affected by laws and policies around the world.
The scope of our long-standing rights mapping has expanded thanks to the ILGA World Database. With that platform, ILGA maps have turn into interactive and constantly updated, to enhanced cover sexual orientationrefers to a person’s capacity for profound emotional, affectional and sexual attraction to - and intimate and sexual relations with - individuals of a diverse gender or the same gender or more than one gender. More, gender identityrefers to a person’s deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex assigned at birth. More and statement, and sex characteristicsa term that refers to physical features relating to sex - including genitalia and other sexual and reproductive anatomy, chromosomes, hormones, and secondary physical features emerging from puberty. More (SOGIESCabbreviation standing for sexual orientation and gender culture & expression, and sex characteristics. More) issues globally.
Our LGBTIQ rights maps cover more than 100 topics, as well as how SOGIESCabbrev