What countires is it illegal to be gay
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Criminalisation:
- Criminalises LGBT people
- Criminalises sexual action between males
- Criminalises sexual exercise between females
- Imposes the death penalty
Maximum punishment:
Death penalty
More infoCriminalisation:
- Criminalises LGBT people
- Criminalises sexual exercise 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 transgender people
- Imposes the death penalty
Maximum punishment:
Death by stoning
More infoCriminalisation:
- Criminalises LGBT people
- Criminalises sexual action between males
- Criminalises sexual task 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
Which countries impose the death penalty on gay people?
Around the world, queer people continue to face discrimination, violence, harassment and social stigma. While social movements have marked progress towards acceptance in many countries, in others homosexuality continues to be outlawed and penalised, sometimes with death.
According to Statistica Research Department, as of 2024, homosexuality is criminalised in 64 countries globally, with most of these nations situated in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. In 12 of these countries, the death penalty is either enforced or remains a possibility for secret, consensual same-sex sexual activity.
In many cases, the laws only apply to sexual relations between two men, but 38 countries contain amendments that include those between women in their definitions.
These penalisations represent abuses of human rights, especially the rights to freedom of expression, the right to develop one's own individuality and the right to life.
Which countries enforce the death penalty for homosexuality?
Saudi Arabia
The Wahabbi interpretation of Sharia law in Saudi Arabia maintains that acts of homosexuality should be disciplined in the sa
Asia
State
Domestic law[*]
Penalty
Ratified International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)[†]
Ratified Optional Protocol to ICCPR[†]
Bangladesh
Penal Code, 1860 (Act XLV of 1860)Section 377: Unnatural offences “Whoever voluntary has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with man, woman, or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 10 years, and shall also be liable to fine.
Explanation: Penetration is sufficient to constitute the carnal intercourse necessary to the offence described in this section.”
Imprisonment for life; orImprisonment for up to 10 years and a fine 6 Sep 2000
–
Brunei
Penal Code, Chapter 22, revised edition 2001Section 377: Unnatural offences “Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman, or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may increase to 10 years, and shall also be liable to fine. [S 12/97]
Explanation: Penetration is sufficient to constitute the carnal intercourse necessary to the offence described
Gay relationships are still criminalised in 72 countries, report finds
Fifty years after homosexuality was decriminalised in England and Wales, 72 other countries and territories worldwide continue to criminalise same-sex relationships, including 45 in which sexual relationships between women are outlawed.
There are eight countries in which homosexuality can result in a death penalty, and dozens more in which gay acts can outcome in a prison sentence, according to an annual announce by the International Lesbian, Gay, Double attraction, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA).
Southern and east Africa, the Middle East and south Asia persist with the most draconian approaches. Western Europe and the western hemisphere are the most tolerant.
But Britain was by no means a frontrunner when it moved 50 years ago to partly decriminalise homosexuality. Some 20 other countries had already led the way, including France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Brazil and Argentina, all of whom had legalised it well before 1900.
In Iran, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, homosexuality is still punishable by death, under sharia law. The alike applies in parts of Somalia and northern Nigeria. In two other countr
As Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced on Sunday that the nation will repeal a colonial-era law criminalizing sex between men, LGBTQ+ rights activists in the territory celebrated a long-sought victory.
The law, which did not employ to women, had not been enforced in over 15 years, but its long-standing presence contributed to stigmatizing and discriminating against same-sex attracted men in Singapore, activists said.
"Sex between consenting men should not be criminalized. There is no justification to prosecute people for it, nor to build it a crime," the prime minister said.
A similar commandment criminalizing same-sex consensual relations dating assist to the British colonial time was struck down in India in 2018 when the Supreme Court ruled the ban to be "irrational, indefensible and manifestly arbitrary."
But in both India and Singapore, the abolition of these laws didn't translate into a complete backing of LGBTQ+ rights, as same-sex marriage remains illegal in both countries.
"Let me reassure everyone that in handling the issue, the government will continue to uphold families as the basic building blocks of society," Singapore's prime minister said on Sunday. "We will maintain our