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.
Notably, as of May 2024[update], 37 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Chechnya.[9]Sudan rescinded its unenforced death penalty for anal sex (hetero- or homosexual) in 2020.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] 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.[36]
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.[37] 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.[38] 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.[39]
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.[40] 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.[41] 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.[42]
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,[43] as a violation of
military discipline.[44] The Greek historian
Polybius (2nd century BC) lists
deserters, thieves,
perjurers, and "...on young men who have abused their persons" as subject to the fustuarium, clubbing to death.[45] 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.[46] Soldiers were free to have
relations with their male slaves;[47] the use of a fellow citizen-soldier's body was prohibited, not homosexual behaviors per se.[48] 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.[49]
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.[50] 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.[51]
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.[52] "Death by sword" was the punishment for a "man coupling like a woman" under the
Theodosian Code.[53] Under
Justinian, all same-sex acts, passive or active, no matter who the partners are, were declared contrary to nature and punishable by death.[54]
The
United Kingdom introduced anti-homosexuality laws throughout its colonies, particularly in the 19th century when the
British Empire was at its peak.[55] As of 2018, more than half of the 71 countries that criminalised homosexuality were former British colonies or protectorates.[56]
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.
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.
When a country has decriminalized, re-criminalized, and decriminalized again (e.g. Albania, Bulgaria, Spain, republics of the Soviet Union) only the later decriminalization date is included. Countries which have decriminalized and since re-criminalized (e.g. Iraq) are excluded.
Illegal since 1966 Penalty: Up to 3 years imprisonment with fines up to 10,000 dinars.[65] Torture,[66] beatings,[67] 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.[68][76]
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.[68]
Illegal since 1864 (only
Zanzibar) Illegal since 1899 Penalty: Up to life imprisonment.[68][97] Vigilante executions, beatings and torture[133][134] 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. [135][136]
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[169][170][171][172]
/ Legal in Mexico City (2010),[184] 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), Zacatecas (2023), Tabasco (2024), Durango, Tamaulipas, and Nuevo León (the latter three never had adoption bans)[185][186]
(ambiguous)
Bans all anti-gay discrimination[187]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), Morelos (2023), Guerrero (2024), and nationwide (2024).
/ Transgender persons can change their legal gender and name in Mexico City (2008),[188] 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) [189]
/ 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.[194] "Transvestites" are currently banned from the military since
2012.[195] Most openly
Intersex people may be banned from the military under the Armed Forces ban of "
hermaphrodites".[195]
/ 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[205][206][207] One-time sex change allowed for passports. [208]
Transgender persons can change their legal gender and name without surgeries or judicial order since 2012[262]
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.
[263]
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) [282][283][284]
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.[290]
Since 2015, transgender persons can change their legal gender and name manifesting their solemn will before a notary, no surgeries or judicial order required[297]
Transgender persons can change their legal gender and name without surgeries or judicial order required since 2009.[332] Self-determination since 2018.
Yes Fully legal since 1993[334][68] No Illegal de facto in
Chechnya, where homosexuals are abducted and
sent to concentration camps based on their perceived sexual orientation.
Yes/ No 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.[68][353]
No 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)[356]. For women, 100 lashes for women of mature sound mind and if consenting. Death penalty offense after fourth conviction.[68]
Yes Almost full recognition of gender's ID without a surgery or medical intervention (Excluding changing gender and name in birth certificate) ;[367] equal employment opportunity law bars discrimination based on gender identity[368][369][370]
Yes / No 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.[373] 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 (unenforced).
No
No
No
No
No
Yes Legal gender change allowed, but sex reassignment surgery required[374]
NoSex reassignment surgery severely restricted to limited circumstances (mainly physical intersex traits), highly regulated by the state.[390][391] Laws used against forms of gender expression.[392]
No 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.[68]
No
No
No
No
No
No
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
Yes/ No Discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity prohibited by court decision. No nationwide law.[399][400][401]
Yes 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[402][401]
No Illegal (codified in 2014) Penalty: Up to 8 years imprisonment, house arrest, lashings and fines. (unenforced)[403] LGBTQ welcomed in tourist islands [404]
Yes/No 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[412], which has caused discrimination against well-educated trans women[413].
Yes Stepchild adoption since 2019 Yes Joint adoption legal since 2023[426]
Yes
Yes Constitutionally bans all anti-gay discrimination from government[427]; several laws banning anti-gay discrimination regarding education and employment.[428][429]
Yes Transgender people allowed to change legal gender, but only after sex reassignment surgery.[d]
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
No Illegal since 1871 Penalty: fines, prison sentence (2–20 years), or whippings.[68][437]
No
No
No LGBT individuals may adopt, but not same-sex couples
No
No
No Generally impossible to change gender. However, a 2016 court ruling recognizes gender changes as fundamental constitutional rights[438] Forms of gender expression are criminalized.
No LGBT individuals may adopt, but not same-sex couples[444][443]
Yes Since 2009
Yes/No Bans some anti-gay discrimination in certain cities and provinces,[445] including the City of Manila,[446]Cebu City,[447] Quezon City,[448] and Davao City;[449] Nationwide anti-bullying law for basic education students.[450]
No 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.[68][472]
Registered life partnerships from 2001 to 2017 (existing partnerships and new foreign partnerships still recognised)[473][474]
/ Unregistered cohabitation since 2012; registered partnership proposed 2019
Constitutional ban since 1997[494] (Article 18 of the Constitution is generally interpreted as limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples[495][496][497][498][499][500])[f]
LGBT individuals may adopt, but not same-sex couples[502]
Legal since 1962 (As part of
Czechoslovakia); equal age of consent since 1990 + UN decl. sign.[68]
/ 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[503]
/ Banned from military service during peacetime, but during wartime homosexuals are permitted to enlist as partially able[524]
/ (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.)[525]
Male legal since 1993 Female always legal[334][68] Illegal in practice in
Chechnya, where homosexuals are abducted and
sent to concentration camps based on their perceived sexual orientation.
/ First country within the world in 1972 to allow gender reassignment procedures for individuals. Effective from July 1, 2025 by self-determination for individuals to change gender.
Southern Europe
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
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.[613]
Legal from 1858, when nominally a vassal of the
Ottoman Empire to 1860,[645] and again since 1994 (As part of
Yugoslavia); equal age of consent since 2006 + UN decl. sign.[68]
Legal since 1983; equal age of consent since 2012 + UN decl. sign.[680][681][68]
Civil partnerships performed in the UK abroad recognised for succession purposes in inheritance and other matters respecting interests in property since 2012[682][683] Legal cohabitation since 2017[684]
Legal since 2017 in Guernsey, since 2018 in Alderney, and since 2020 in Sark[685] [686]
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)[708][709]
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.[68]
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.[68]
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.[753][754]
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
^A country in this list is to be presumed to have equalized the age of consent at the same time as it decriminalized homosexual acts, unless otherwise noted
^In Taiwan, gender change is not explicitly stated in any law; instead it is permitted by an executive order published by the
Ministry of the Interior, which dictates that sex reassignment surgeries are required before gender change. In 2021 a judgement by the Taipei High Administrative Court[430] ruled that the executive order above was unconstitutional and therefore the defendant (district household registration office) must allow the plaintiff to change their gender. The judgement was finalized since the defendant did not appeal. However, since rulings in Taiwan are generally not precedential, said judgement only applies to the plaintiff and does not bind other cases nor the executive branch.
^In January 2019, a lower administrative court in Warsaw ruled that the language in Article 18 of the Constitution does not explicitly ban same-sex marriage.[501]
^Mendos, Lucas Ramón (2019).
State-Sponsored Homophobia 2019(PDF) (13th ed.). Geneva:
ILGA. p. 15.
Archived(PDF) from the original on 22 December 2019. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
^Bullough, Vern L.; Bullough, Bonnie (1993).
"Introduction". Cross Dressing, Sex, and Gender. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. x.
ISBN9780812214314.
LCCN92032030.
Archived from the original on 1 April 2021. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
^G. R. Driver and J. C. Miles, The Assyrian Laws (Oxford, Clarendon Press [1935]), 71.
^Plutarch, Moralia 288a; Thomas Habinek, "The Invention of Sexuality in the World-City of Rome," in The Roman Cultural Revolution (Cambridge University Press, 1997), p. 39; Richlin, "Not before Homosexuality," pp. 545–546. Scholars disagree as to whether the Lex Scantinia imposed the death penalty or a hefty fine.
^Williams, Roman Homosexuality, pp. 214–215; Richlin, "Not before Homosexuality," passim.
^Catharine Edwards, The Politics of Immorality in Ancient Rome (Cambridge University Press, 1993), pp. 63–64.
^As recorded in a fragment of the speech De Re Floria by
Cato the Elder (frg. 57 Jordan =
Aulus Gellius 9.12.7), noted and discussed by Richlin, "Not before Homosexuality," p. 561.
^Richlin, "Not before Homosexuality," pp. 562–563. See also Digest 48.5.35 [34] on legal definitions of rape that included boys.
^Under the Lex Aquilia. See McGinn, Prostitution, Sexuality, and the Law in Ancient Rome, p. 314.
^McGinn, Prostitution, Sexuality and the Law in Ancient Rome, p. 40.
^Sara Elise Phang, Roman Military Service: Ideologies of Discipline in the Late Republic and Early Principate (Cambridge University Press, 2008), p. 93.
^Juvenal, Satire 2; Williams, Roman Homosexuality, p. 28.
^SuetoniusLife of Nero 28–29; Williams, Roman Homosexuality, p. 279ff.
^Michael Groneberg, "Reasons for Homophobia: Three Types of Explanation," in Combatting Homophobia: Experiences and Analyses Pertinent to Education (LIT Verlag, 2011), p. 193.
^Codex Theodosianus 9.7.3 (4 December 342), introduced by the sons of Constantine in 342.
^Kirby, Michael (2013).
"The sodomy offence: England's least lovely criminal law export?"(PDF). Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in the Commonwealth: Struggles for Decriminalisation and Change. London: School of Advanced Study, University of London.
Archived(PDF) from the original on 10 October 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
^"Tunisia (Law)". International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. Archived from
the original on 4 July 2014. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
Maxwell Akalaare Adombila (9 May 2024).
"Ghana's top court postpones hearing on challenge to anti-LGBTQ bill". Reuters. Additional reporting: Karin Strohecker. Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo... adjourn[ing the] first... hearing on the challenges without setting a new date further delays any resolution on a bill that, if signed into law...
^
abcMendos, Lucas Ramon (1 December 2020).
"State-Sponsored Homophobia"(PDF). Cite error: The named reference ":0" was defined multiple times with different content (see the
help page).
^Isamova, Lidia (12 May 2014).
"Transgender in Tajikistan". Institute for War and Peace Reporting. Archived from
the original on 29 December 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
^Erez Levon (January 2008).
National Discord: Language, Sexuality and the Politics of Belonging in Israel. pp. 45–46.
ISBN9780549582427. This amendment to the penal code entailed a de jure decriminalization of sodomy since, in 1963, the Israeli Supreme Court had already issued a de facto decriminalization, ruling that the anti-sodomy law (which dated back to the British Mandate of Palestine; Mandatory Criminal Ordinance of 1936) could not be prosecuted (Yosef Ben-Ami vs. The Attorney General of Israel, 224/63).
^Lucas Paoli Itaborahy; Jingshu Zhu (May 2014).
State-Sponsored Homophobia(PDF) (Report).
ILGA. pp. 16, 20, 55. Archived from
the original(PDF) on 17 March 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
^Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (2022).
"Section 6. Discrimination and Societal Abuses". 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: United Arab Emirates (Report). United States Department of State.
^王若翰 (20 June 2012).
"变性人群体真实生态:唯学历证明无法修改性别" (Press release) (in Chinese (China)). 搜狐. Archived from
the original on 12 August 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
^Hassig, Ralph; Oh, Kongdan (2015). The Hidden People of North Korea: Everyday Life in the Hermit Kingdom (Second ed.). Lanham, Maryland:
Rowman & Littlefield. p. 126.
ISBN978-1442237193. The second major stress on soldiers is their highly restricted social life. During their initial ten years of service they are not permitted to marry, which means that they are supposed to postpone sexual activity until their late twenties.
^"The Constitution of the Republic of Poland". Sejm RP. Retrieved 5 May 2015. Marriage, being a union of a man and a woman, as well as the family, motherhood and parenthood, shall be placed under the protection and care of the Republic of Poland.
^Judgment of the Supreme Court of 7 July 2004, II KK 176/04, W dotychczasowym orzecznictwie Sądu Najwyższego, wypracowanym i ugruntowanym zarówno w okresie obowiązywania poprzedniego, jak i obecnego Kodeksu postępowania karnego, a także w doktrynie (por. wypowiedzi W. Woltera, A. Zolla, A. Wąska), pojęcie "wspólne pożycie" odnoszone jest wyłącznie do konkubinatu, a w szczególności do związku osób o różnej płci, odpowiadającego od strony faktycznej stosunkowi małżeństwa (którym w myśl art. 18 Konstytucji jest wyłącznie związek osób różnej płci). Tego rodzaju interpretację Sąd Najwyższy, orzekający w niniejszej sprawie, w pełni podziela i nie znajduje podstaw do uznania za przekonywujące tych wypowiedzi pojawiających się w piśmiennictwie, w których podejmowane są próby kwestionowania takiej interpretacji omawianego pojęcia i sprowadzania go wyłącznie do konkubinatu (M. Płachta, K. Łojewski, A.M. Liberkowski). Rozumiejąc bowiem dążenia do rozszerzającej interpretacji pojęcia "wspólne pożycie", użytego w art. 115 § 11 k.k., należy jednak wskazać na całkowity brak w tym względzie dostatecznie precyzyjnych kryteriów.
^"Judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal of 11 May 2005, K 18/04". Polska Konstytucja określa bowiem małżeństwo jako związek wyłącznie kobiety i mężczyzny. A contrario nie dopuszcza więc związków jednopłciowych. [...] Małżeństwo (jako związek kobiety i mężczyzny) uzyskało w prawie krajowym RP odrębny status konstytucyjny zdeterminowany postanowieniami art. 18 Konstytucji. Zmiana tego statusu byłaby możliwa jedynie przy zachowaniu rygorów trybu zmiany Konstytucji, określonych w art. 235 tego aktu.
^"Judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court of Poland of 25 October 2016, II GSK 866/15". Ustawa o świadczeniach zdrowotnych finansowanych ze środków publicznych nie wyjaśnia, co prawda, kto jest małżonkiem. Pojęcie to zostało jednak dostatecznie i jasno określone we wspomnianym art. 18 Konstytucji RP, w którym jest mowa o małżeństwie jako o związku kobiety i mężczyzny. W piśmiennictwie podkreśla się, że art. 18 Konstytucji ustala zasadę heteroseksualności małżeństwa, będącą nie tyle zasadą ustroju, co normą prawną, która zakazuje ustawodawcy zwykłemu nadawania charakteru małżeństwa związkom pomiędzy osobami jednej płci (vide: L. Garlicki Komentarz do art. 18 Konstytucji, s. 2-3 [w:] Konstytucja Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Komentarz, Wydawnictwo Sejmowe, Warszawa 2003). Jest wobec tego oczywiste, że małżeństwem w świetle Konstytucji i co za tym idzie – w świetle polskiego prawa, może być i jest wyłącznie związek heteroseksualny, a więc w związku małżeńskim małżonkami nie mogą być osoby tej samej płci.
^*Gallo D; Paladini L; Pustorino P, eds. (2014). Same-Sex Couples before National, Supranational and International Jurisdictions. Berlin: Springer. p. 215.
ISBN978-3-642-35434-2. the drafters of the 1997 Polish Constitution included a legal definition of a marriage as the union of a woman and a man in the text of the constitution in order to ensure that the introduction of same-sex marriage would not be passed without a constitutional amendment.
Marek Safjan; Leszek Bosek, eds. (2016). Konstytucja RP. Tom I. Komentarz do art. 1-86. Warszawa: C.H. Beck Wydawnictwo Polska.
ISBN9788325573652. Z przeprowadzonej powyżej analizy prac nad Konstytucją RP wynika jednoznacznie, że zamieszczenie w art. 18 Konstytucji RP zwrotu definicyjnego "związek kobiety i mężczyzny" stanowiło reakcję na fakt pojawienia się w państwach obcych regulacji poddającej związki osób tej samej płci regulacji zbliżonej lub zbieżnej z instytucją małżeństwa. Uzupełniony tym zwrotem przepis konstytucyjny "miał pełnić rolę instrumentu zapobiegającego wprowadzeniu takiej regulacji do prawa polskiego" (A. Mączyński, Konstytucyjne podstawy prawa rodzinnego, s. 772). Innego motywu jego wprowadzenia do Konstytucji RP nie da się wskazać (szeroko w tym zakresie B. Banaszkiewicz, "Małżeństwo jako związek kobiety i mężczyzny", s. 640 i n.; zob. też Z. Strus, Znaczenie artykułu 18 Konstytucji, s. 236 i n.). Jak zauważa A. Mączyński istotą tej regulacji było normatywne przesądzenie nie tylko o niemożliwości unormowania w prawie polskim "małżeństw pomiędzy osobami tej samej płci", lecz również innych związków, które mimo tego, że nie zostałyby określone jako małżeństwo miałyby spełniać funkcje do niego podobną (A. Mączyński, Konstytucyjne podstawy prawa rodzinnego, s. 772; tenże, Konstytucyjne i międzynarodowe uwarunkowania, s. 91; podobnie L. Garlicki, Artykuł 18, w: Garlicki, Konstytucja, t. 3, uw. 4, s. 2, który zauważa, że w tym zakresie art. 18 nabiera "charakteru normy prawnej").
Scherpe JM, ed. (2016). European Family Law Volume III: Family Law in a European Perspective Family. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. p. 121.
ISBN978-1-78536-304-7. Constitutional bans on same-sex marriage are now applicable in ten European countries: Article 32, Belarus Constitution; Article 46 Bulgarian Constitution; Article L Hungarian Constitution, Article 110, Latvian Constitution; Article 38.3 Lithuanian Constitution; Article 48 Moldovan Constitution; Article 71 Montenegrin Constitution; Article 18 Polish Constitution; Article 62 Serbian Constitution; and Article 51 Ukrainian Constitution.
Stewart J, Lloyd KC (2016).
"Marriage Equality in Europe". Family Advocate. 38 (4): 37–40. Article 18 of the Polish Constitution limits the institution of marriage to opposite-sex couples.
^"Ustav Republike Hrvatske"(PDF) (in Croatian). Ustavni sud Republike Hrvatske. 15 January 2014. Archived from
the original(PDF) on 30 March 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
^First post-Medieval criminal code in the
Principality of Serbia, named "Kaznitelni zakon" (Law of Penalties), adopted in 1860, punishes sexual intercourse "against the order of nature" between males with 6 months to 4 years imprisonment. V. Para # 206, p. 82 of the "Kaznitelni zakon 1860" in
Slavo-Serbian orthography
(PDF)
^"Legal Aspects of Gender Reassignment Surgery in Turkey: A Case Report". Indian Journal of Gender Studies. 18 (1): 77–88. 28 January 2011.
doi:
10.1177/097152151001800104.
S2CID143761091.
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.
Notably, as of May 2024[update], 37 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] 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.[36]
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.[37] 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.[38] 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.[39]
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.[40] 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.[41] 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.[42]
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,[43] as a violation of
military discipline.[44] The Greek historian
Polybius (2nd century BC) lists
deserters, thieves,
perjurers, and "...on young men who have abused their persons" as subject to the fustuarium, clubbing to death.[45] 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.[46] Soldiers were free to have
relations with their male slaves;[47] the use of a fellow citizen-soldier's body was prohibited, not homosexual behaviors per se.[48] 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.[49]
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.[50] 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.[51]
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.[52] "Death by sword" was the punishment for a "man coupling like a woman" under the
Theodosian Code.[53] Under
Justinian, all same-sex acts, passive or active, no matter who the partners are, were declared contrary to nature and punishable by death.[54]
The
United Kingdom introduced anti-homosexuality laws throughout its colonies, particularly in the 19th century when the
British Empire was at its peak.[55] As of 2018, more than half of the 71 countries that criminalised homosexuality were former British colonies or protectorates.[56]
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.
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.
When a country has decriminalized, re-criminalized, and decriminalized again (e.g. Albania, Bulgaria, Spain, republics of the Soviet Union) only the later decriminalization date is included. Countries which have decriminalized and since re-criminalized (e.g. Iraq) are excluded.
Illegal since 1966 Penalty: Up to 3 years imprisonment with fines up to 10,000 dinars.[65] Torture,[66] beatings,[67] 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.[68][76]
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.[68]
Illegal since 1864 (only
Zanzibar) Illegal since 1899 Penalty: Up to life imprisonment.[68][97] Vigilante executions, beatings and torture[133][134] 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. [135][136]
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[169][170][171][172]
/ Legal in Mexico City (2010),[184] 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), Zacatecas (2023), Tabasco (2024), Durango, Tamaulipas, and Nuevo León (the latter three never had adoption bans)[185][186]
(ambiguous)
Bans all anti-gay discrimination[187]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), Morelos (2023), Guerrero (2024), and nationwide (2024).
/ Transgender persons can change their legal gender and name in Mexico City (2008),[188] 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) [189]
/ 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.[194] "Transvestites" are currently banned from the military since
2012.[195] Most openly
Intersex people may be banned from the military under the Armed Forces ban of "
hermaphrodites".[195]
/ 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[205][206][207] One-time sex change allowed for passports. [208]
Transgender persons can change their legal gender and name without surgeries or judicial order since 2012[262]
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.
[263]
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) [282][283][284]
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.[290]
Since 2015, transgender persons can change their legal gender and name manifesting their solemn will before a notary, no surgeries or judicial order required[297]
Transgender persons can change their legal gender and name without surgeries or judicial order required since 2009.[332] Self-determination since 2018.
Yes Fully legal since 1993[334][68] No Illegal de facto in
Chechnya, where homosexuals are abducted and
sent to concentration camps based on their perceived sexual orientation.
Yes/ No 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.[68][353]
No 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)[356]. For women, 100 lashes for women of mature sound mind and if consenting. Death penalty offense after fourth conviction.[68]
Yes Almost full recognition of gender's ID without a surgery or medical intervention (Excluding changing gender and name in birth certificate) ;[367] equal employment opportunity law bars discrimination based on gender identity[368][369][370]
Yes / No 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.[373] 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 (unenforced).
No
No
No
No
No
Yes Legal gender change allowed, but sex reassignment surgery required[374]
NoSex reassignment surgery severely restricted to limited circumstances (mainly physical intersex traits), highly regulated by the state.[390][391] Laws used against forms of gender expression.[392]
No 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.[68]
No
No
No
No
No
No
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
Yes/ No Discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity prohibited by court decision. No nationwide law.[399][400][401]
Yes 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[402][401]
No Illegal (codified in 2014) Penalty: Up to 8 years imprisonment, house arrest, lashings and fines. (unenforced)[403] LGBTQ welcomed in tourist islands [404]
Yes/No 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[412], which has caused discrimination against well-educated trans women[413].
Yes Stepchild adoption since 2019 Yes Joint adoption legal since 2023[426]
Yes
Yes Constitutionally bans all anti-gay discrimination from government[427]; several laws banning anti-gay discrimination regarding education and employment.[428][429]
Yes Transgender people allowed to change legal gender, but only after sex reassignment surgery.[d]
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
No Illegal since 1871 Penalty: fines, prison sentence (2–20 years), or whippings.[68][437]
No
No
No LGBT individuals may adopt, but not same-sex couples
No
No
No Generally impossible to change gender. However, a 2016 court ruling recognizes gender changes as fundamental constitutional rights[438] Forms of gender expression are criminalized.
No LGBT individuals may adopt, but not same-sex couples[444][443]
Yes Since 2009
Yes/No Bans some anti-gay discrimination in certain cities and provinces,[445] including the City of Manila,[446]Cebu City,[447] Quezon City,[448] and Davao City;[449] Nationwide anti-bullying law for basic education students.[450]
No 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.[68][472]
Registered life partnerships from 2001 to 2017 (existing partnerships and new foreign partnerships still recognised)[473][474]
/ Unregistered cohabitation since 2012; registered partnership proposed 2019
Constitutional ban since 1997[494] (Article 18 of the Constitution is generally interpreted as limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples[495][496][497][498][499][500])[f]
LGBT individuals may adopt, but not same-sex couples[502]
Legal since 1962 (As part of
Czechoslovakia); equal age of consent since 1990 + UN decl. sign.[68]
/ 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[503]
/ Banned from military service during peacetime, but during wartime homosexuals are permitted to enlist as partially able[524]
/ (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.)[525]
Male legal since 1993 Female always legal[334][68] Illegal in practice in
Chechnya, where homosexuals are abducted and
sent to concentration camps based on their perceived sexual orientation.
/ First country within the world in 1972 to allow gender reassignment procedures for individuals. Effective from July 1, 2025 by self-determination for individuals to change gender.
Southern Europe
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
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.[613]
Legal from 1858, when nominally a vassal of the
Ottoman Empire to 1860,[645] and again since 1994 (As part of
Yugoslavia); equal age of consent since 2006 + UN decl. sign.[68]
Legal since 1983; equal age of consent since 2012 + UN decl. sign.[680][681][68]
Civil partnerships performed in the UK abroad recognised for succession purposes in inheritance and other matters respecting interests in property since 2012[682][683] Legal cohabitation since 2017[684]
Legal since 2017 in Guernsey, since 2018 in Alderney, and since 2020 in Sark[685] [686]
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)[708][709]
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.[68]
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.[68]
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.[753][754]
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
^A country in this list is to be presumed to have equalized the age of consent at the same time as it decriminalized homosexual acts, unless otherwise noted
^In Taiwan, gender change is not explicitly stated in any law; instead it is permitted by an executive order published by the
Ministry of the Interior, which dictates that sex reassignment surgeries are required before gender change. In 2021 a judgement by the Taipei High Administrative Court[430] ruled that the executive order above was unconstitutional and therefore the defendant (district household registration office) must allow the plaintiff to change their gender. The judgement was finalized since the defendant did not appeal. However, since rulings in Taiwan are generally not precedential, said judgement only applies to the plaintiff and does not bind other cases nor the executive branch.
^In January 2019, a lower administrative court in Warsaw ruled that the language in Article 18 of the Constitution does not explicitly ban same-sex marriage.[501]
^Mendos, Lucas Ramón (2019).
State-Sponsored Homophobia 2019(PDF) (13th ed.). Geneva:
ILGA. p. 15.
Archived(PDF) from the original on 22 December 2019. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
^Bullough, Vern L.; Bullough, Bonnie (1993).
"Introduction". Cross Dressing, Sex, and Gender. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. x.
ISBN9780812214314.
LCCN92032030.
Archived from the original on 1 April 2021. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
^G. R. Driver and J. C. Miles, The Assyrian Laws (Oxford, Clarendon Press [1935]), 71.
^Plutarch, Moralia 288a; Thomas Habinek, "The Invention of Sexuality in the World-City of Rome," in The Roman Cultural Revolution (Cambridge University Press, 1997), p. 39; Richlin, "Not before Homosexuality," pp. 545–546. Scholars disagree as to whether the Lex Scantinia imposed the death penalty or a hefty fine.
^Williams, Roman Homosexuality, pp. 214–215; Richlin, "Not before Homosexuality," passim.
^Catharine Edwards, The Politics of Immorality in Ancient Rome (Cambridge University Press, 1993), pp. 63–64.
^As recorded in a fragment of the speech De Re Floria by
Cato the Elder (frg. 57 Jordan =
Aulus Gellius 9.12.7), noted and discussed by Richlin, "Not before Homosexuality," p. 561.
^Richlin, "Not before Homosexuality," pp. 562–563. See also Digest 48.5.35 [34] on legal definitions of rape that included boys.
^Under the Lex Aquilia. See McGinn, Prostitution, Sexuality, and the Law in Ancient Rome, p. 314.
^McGinn, Prostitution, Sexuality and the Law in Ancient Rome, p. 40.
^Sara Elise Phang, Roman Military Service: Ideologies of Discipline in the Late Republic and Early Principate (Cambridge University Press, 2008), p. 93.
^Juvenal, Satire 2; Williams, Roman Homosexuality, p. 28.
^SuetoniusLife of Nero 28–29; Williams, Roman Homosexuality, p. 279ff.
^Michael Groneberg, "Reasons for Homophobia: Three Types of Explanation," in Combatting Homophobia: Experiences and Analyses Pertinent to Education (LIT Verlag, 2011), p. 193.
^Codex Theodosianus 9.7.3 (4 December 342), introduced by the sons of Constantine in 342.
^Kirby, Michael (2013).
"The sodomy offence: England's least lovely criminal law export?"(PDF). Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in the Commonwealth: Struggles for Decriminalisation and Change. London: School of Advanced Study, University of London.
Archived(PDF) from the original on 10 October 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
^"Tunisia (Law)". International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. Archived from
the original on 4 July 2014. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
Maxwell Akalaare Adombila (9 May 2024).
"Ghana's top court postpones hearing on challenge to anti-LGBTQ bill". Reuters. Additional reporting: Karin Strohecker. Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo... adjourn[ing the] first... hearing on the challenges without setting a new date further delays any resolution on a bill that, if signed into law...
^
abcMendos, Lucas Ramon (1 December 2020).
"State-Sponsored Homophobia"(PDF). Cite error: The named reference ":0" was defined multiple times with different content (see the
help page).
^Isamova, Lidia (12 May 2014).
"Transgender in Tajikistan". Institute for War and Peace Reporting. Archived from
the original on 29 December 2016. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
^Erez Levon (January 2008).
National Discord: Language, Sexuality and the Politics of Belonging in Israel. pp. 45–46.
ISBN9780549582427. This amendment to the penal code entailed a de jure decriminalization of sodomy since, in 1963, the Israeli Supreme Court had already issued a de facto decriminalization, ruling that the anti-sodomy law (which dated back to the British Mandate of Palestine; Mandatory Criminal Ordinance of 1936) could not be prosecuted (Yosef Ben-Ami vs. The Attorney General of Israel, 224/63).
^Lucas Paoli Itaborahy; Jingshu Zhu (May 2014).
State-Sponsored Homophobia(PDF) (Report).
ILGA. pp. 16, 20, 55. Archived from
the original(PDF) on 17 March 2017. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
^Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (2022).
"Section 6. Discrimination and Societal Abuses". 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: United Arab Emirates (Report). United States Department of State.
^王若翰 (20 June 2012).
"变性人群体真实生态:唯学历证明无法修改性别" (Press release) (in Chinese (China)). 搜狐. Archived from
the original on 12 August 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
^Hassig, Ralph; Oh, Kongdan (2015). The Hidden People of North Korea: Everyday Life in the Hermit Kingdom (Second ed.). Lanham, Maryland:
Rowman & Littlefield. p. 126.
ISBN978-1442237193. The second major stress on soldiers is their highly restricted social life. During their initial ten years of service they are not permitted to marry, which means that they are supposed to postpone sexual activity until their late twenties.
^"The Constitution of the Republic of Poland". Sejm RP. Retrieved 5 May 2015. Marriage, being a union of a man and a woman, as well as the family, motherhood and parenthood, shall be placed under the protection and care of the Republic of Poland.
^Judgment of the Supreme Court of 7 July 2004, II KK 176/04, W dotychczasowym orzecznictwie Sądu Najwyższego, wypracowanym i ugruntowanym zarówno w okresie obowiązywania poprzedniego, jak i obecnego Kodeksu postępowania karnego, a także w doktrynie (por. wypowiedzi W. Woltera, A. Zolla, A. Wąska), pojęcie "wspólne pożycie" odnoszone jest wyłącznie do konkubinatu, a w szczególności do związku osób o różnej płci, odpowiadającego od strony faktycznej stosunkowi małżeństwa (którym w myśl art. 18 Konstytucji jest wyłącznie związek osób różnej płci). Tego rodzaju interpretację Sąd Najwyższy, orzekający w niniejszej sprawie, w pełni podziela i nie znajduje podstaw do uznania za przekonywujące tych wypowiedzi pojawiających się w piśmiennictwie, w których podejmowane są próby kwestionowania takiej interpretacji omawianego pojęcia i sprowadzania go wyłącznie do konkubinatu (M. Płachta, K. Łojewski, A.M. Liberkowski). Rozumiejąc bowiem dążenia do rozszerzającej interpretacji pojęcia "wspólne pożycie", użytego w art. 115 § 11 k.k., należy jednak wskazać na całkowity brak w tym względzie dostatecznie precyzyjnych kryteriów.
^"Judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal of 11 May 2005, K 18/04". Polska Konstytucja określa bowiem małżeństwo jako związek wyłącznie kobiety i mężczyzny. A contrario nie dopuszcza więc związków jednopłciowych. [...] Małżeństwo (jako związek kobiety i mężczyzny) uzyskało w prawie krajowym RP odrębny status konstytucyjny zdeterminowany postanowieniami art. 18 Konstytucji. Zmiana tego statusu byłaby możliwa jedynie przy zachowaniu rygorów trybu zmiany Konstytucji, określonych w art. 235 tego aktu.
^"Judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court of Poland of 25 October 2016, II GSK 866/15". Ustawa o świadczeniach zdrowotnych finansowanych ze środków publicznych nie wyjaśnia, co prawda, kto jest małżonkiem. Pojęcie to zostało jednak dostatecznie i jasno określone we wspomnianym art. 18 Konstytucji RP, w którym jest mowa o małżeństwie jako o związku kobiety i mężczyzny. W piśmiennictwie podkreśla się, że art. 18 Konstytucji ustala zasadę heteroseksualności małżeństwa, będącą nie tyle zasadą ustroju, co normą prawną, która zakazuje ustawodawcy zwykłemu nadawania charakteru małżeństwa związkom pomiędzy osobami jednej płci (vide: L. Garlicki Komentarz do art. 18 Konstytucji, s. 2-3 [w:] Konstytucja Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Komentarz, Wydawnictwo Sejmowe, Warszawa 2003). Jest wobec tego oczywiste, że małżeństwem w świetle Konstytucji i co za tym idzie – w świetle polskiego prawa, może być i jest wyłącznie związek heteroseksualny, a więc w związku małżeńskim małżonkami nie mogą być osoby tej samej płci.
^*Gallo D; Paladini L; Pustorino P, eds. (2014). Same-Sex Couples before National, Supranational and International Jurisdictions. Berlin: Springer. p. 215.
ISBN978-3-642-35434-2. the drafters of the 1997 Polish Constitution included a legal definition of a marriage as the union of a woman and a man in the text of the constitution in order to ensure that the introduction of same-sex marriage would not be passed without a constitutional amendment.
Marek Safjan; Leszek Bosek, eds. (2016). Konstytucja RP. Tom I. Komentarz do art. 1-86. Warszawa: C.H. Beck Wydawnictwo Polska.
ISBN9788325573652. Z przeprowadzonej powyżej analizy prac nad Konstytucją RP wynika jednoznacznie, że zamieszczenie w art. 18 Konstytucji RP zwrotu definicyjnego "związek kobiety i mężczyzny" stanowiło reakcję na fakt pojawienia się w państwach obcych regulacji poddającej związki osób tej samej płci regulacji zbliżonej lub zbieżnej z instytucją małżeństwa. Uzupełniony tym zwrotem przepis konstytucyjny "miał pełnić rolę instrumentu zapobiegającego wprowadzeniu takiej regulacji do prawa polskiego" (A. Mączyński, Konstytucyjne podstawy prawa rodzinnego, s. 772). Innego motywu jego wprowadzenia do Konstytucji RP nie da się wskazać (szeroko w tym zakresie B. Banaszkiewicz, "Małżeństwo jako związek kobiety i mężczyzny", s. 640 i n.; zob. też Z. Strus, Znaczenie artykułu 18 Konstytucji, s. 236 i n.). Jak zauważa A. Mączyński istotą tej regulacji było normatywne przesądzenie nie tylko o niemożliwości unormowania w prawie polskim "małżeństw pomiędzy osobami tej samej płci", lecz również innych związków, które mimo tego, że nie zostałyby określone jako małżeństwo miałyby spełniać funkcje do niego podobną (A. Mączyński, Konstytucyjne podstawy prawa rodzinnego, s. 772; tenże, Konstytucyjne i międzynarodowe uwarunkowania, s. 91; podobnie L. Garlicki, Artykuł 18, w: Garlicki, Konstytucja, t. 3, uw. 4, s. 2, który zauważa, że w tym zakresie art. 18 nabiera "charakteru normy prawnej").
Scherpe JM, ed. (2016). European Family Law Volume III: Family Law in a European Perspective Family. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing. p. 121.
ISBN978-1-78536-304-7. Constitutional bans on same-sex marriage are now applicable in ten European countries: Article 32, Belarus Constitution; Article 46 Bulgarian Constitution; Article L Hungarian Constitution, Article 110, Latvian Constitution; Article 38.3 Lithuanian Constitution; Article 48 Moldovan Constitution; Article 71 Montenegrin Constitution; Article 18 Polish Constitution; Article 62 Serbian Constitution; and Article 51 Ukrainian Constitution.
Stewart J, Lloyd KC (2016).
"Marriage Equality in Europe". Family Advocate. 38 (4): 37–40. Article 18 of the Polish Constitution limits the institution of marriage to opposite-sex couples.
^"Ustav Republike Hrvatske"(PDF) (in Croatian). Ustavni sud Republike Hrvatske. 15 January 2014. Archived from
the original(PDF) on 30 March 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2024.
^First post-Medieval criminal code in the
Principality of Serbia, named "Kaznitelni zakon" (Law of Penalties), adopted in 1860, punishes sexual intercourse "against the order of nature" between males with 6 months to 4 years imprisonment. V. Para # 206, p. 82 of the "Kaznitelni zakon 1860" in
Slavo-Serbian orthography
(PDF)
^"Legal Aspects of Gender Reassignment Surgery in Turkey: A Case Report". Indian Journal of Gender Studies. 18 (1): 77–88. 28 January 2011.
doi:
10.1177/097152151001800104.
S2CID143761091.