LGBTQ rights by country or territory

• 1. Global Legal Landscape Overview

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  Thirty-eight countries currently recognize same-sex marriage. This legal recognition stands in stark contrast to the reality in Iran and Afghanistan, where two nations are believed to impose the death penalty for consensual same-sex sexual acts. Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, and the United Arab Emirates maintain the death penalty as official law, though it is generally not practiced there. In the Russian region of Chechnya, LGBTQ people face extrajudicial killings without any state protection. Sudan rescinded its unenforced death penalty for anal sex in 2020, removing a harsh provision from its books. Fifteen countries have stoning on their books as a penalty for adultery, which effectively includes gay sex by default since gay marriage is illegal in those places. Legal authorities in Iran and Nigeria enforce this stoning penalty in the northern third of that country.

• 2. Historical Colonial Legacies

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  The British Empire introduced anti-homosexuality laws throughout its colonies during the nineteenth century when the empire was at its peak. Section 377 of the British Colonial Penal Code outlawed consensual sexual activity between same-sex couples in 1861. This law also labeled third gender communities such as the apwint people and Hijra as outlaw tribes. More than half of the seventy-one countries that criminalized homosexuality were former British colonies or protectorates as of 2018. The United Kingdom authorities sought to enact a special law against Hijra people in the North-Western Provinces in 1861. The Criminal Tribes Act of 1871 included Hijra people and monitored them with the hope of eliminating their culture. Homosexual activity remains a criminal offense in twenty-nine of the fifty-six sovereign states of the Commonwealth today. Only twenty-seven states allow legal homosexual activity within the Commonwealth. Three of these states still punish homosexual activity with death.

• 3. Ancient Civilizations And Precedents

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  In ancient India, Ayoni or non-vaginal sex of all types was punishable under the Arthashastra text. Homosexual acts were treated as a smaller offense punishable by a fine while unlawful heterosexual sex carried much harsher punishment. The Dharmsastras prescribed against non-vaginal sex in later texts like the Vashistha Dharmasutra. Ancient Israel forbade people from lying with people of the same sex in Leviticus eighteen. Genesis nineteen tells a story of attempted homosexual rape after which the cities were destroyed with brimstone and fire from the Lord. Assyrian society punished sex crimes identically whether they were homosexual or heterosexual. An Akkadian tablet reading Šumma ālu stated that if a man copulated with his equal from the rear he became the leader among his peers. Middle Assyrian Law Codes dating to 1075 BC mandated turning a man into a eunuch if he had intercourse with his brother-in-arms. Roman law imposed penalties on those who committed a sex crime against a freeborn male minor under the Lex Scantinia. A law probably dating to Julius Caesar defined rape as forced sex against boy woman or anyone.

• 4. United Nations And International Advocacy

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  The United Nations Human Rights Council passed its first resolution recognizing LGBTQ rights in 2011. Following this resolution the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a report documenting violations including hate crimes and criminalization of homosexual activity. The United Nations urged all countries which had not yet done so to enact laws protecting basic LGBTQ rights. A 2022 study found that LGBTQ rights correlated with less HIV/AIDS incidence among gay and bisexual men independently of risky sexual behavior. The Equaldex Equality Index ranks Nordic countries Chile Uruguay Canada Spain Andorra and Malta among the best for LGBTQ rights. Senegal Oman Brunei Afghanistan Somalia Eritrea Gambia and Iran rank among the worst according to the index. A 2023 Gallup opinion poll found Nepal was the only non-Western country where over 80 percent of respondents considered their residential area good for gay or lesbian people.

• 5. Modern Legislative Milestones

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  The Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage in 2001. This landmark decision set a precedent for other nations to follow regarding legal recognition of same-sex relationships. Decriminalization movements have gained momentum across various regions as countries review their historical penal codes. Some nations have moved to equalize age of consent laws for same-sex couples after previously maintaining different standards. Legal status varies significantly between countries that recognize same-sex marriage and those that do not. Blood donation policies for men who have sex of men differ widely across national borders today. Conversion therapy bans for minors are now part of legislation in several jurisdictions seeking to protect vulnerable youth.