Homosexual activity

Homosexuality is illegal in 60 countries and punishable by death in 7.

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  • Legal
  • Male illegal, female uncertain
  • Male illegal, female legal
  • Illegal (other penalty)
  • Illegal (imprisonment as punishment)
  • Illegal (up to life in prison as punishment)
  • Illegal (death penalty as punishment)
  • Varies by region or ambiguous
  • Unknown or N/A

Recent Changes

Homosexual activity

Homosexual activity refers to consensual sexual activity between individuals of the same sex. While homosexual activity is legal in most countries around the world, there are several countries — mostly in Africa and the Middle East — where it is criminalized to a varying degree. Penalties can range from imprisonment all the way up to death penalty.

Homosexuality is commonly criminalized through sodomy laws (sometimes called a "buggery law" in British territories), which are laws that define sexual acts of crimes. Sodomy laws can sometimes prevent sexual activity between two individuals of the same sex. While some of these laws are not specific to homosexual sex (such as when referring to anal sex), they are usually used to target or criminalize gay people. In practice, these laws are difficult to actually enforce.

In some countries, the language of the criminal codes specifically refers to two men, meaning that lesbian sex is technically legal.

Some sodomy laws and penal codes date back to the 1700s and 1800s. Throughout the 1900s, many countries, US states, and other regions began decriminalizing homosexuality and removing references to homosexuality or sodomy from their criminal codes. This has continued over the past few decades.

Summary

134
Legal
134 regions (68%)
Legal
60
Illegal
60 regions (30%)
Illegal
4
No data, no laws, N/A, or ambiguous
4 regions (2%)
No data, no laws, N/A, or ambiguous
Europe
100%
LEGAL EQUALITY
Legal
50 regions (100%)
Illegal
regions (0%)
No data, no laws, N/A, or ambiguous
regions (0%)
Oceania
57%
LEGAL EQUALITY
Legal
8 regions (57%)
Illegal
6 regions (43%)
No data, no laws, N/A, or ambiguous
regions (0%)
South America
92%
LEGAL EQUALITY
Legal
11 regions (92%)
Illegal
1 regions (8%)
No data, no laws, N/A, or ambiguous
regions (0%)
North America
78%
LEGAL EQUALITY
Legal
18 regions (78%)
Illegal
5 regions (22%)
No data, no laws, N/A, or ambiguous
regions (0%)
Africa
43%
LEGAL EQUALITY
Legal
23 regions (43%)
Illegal
31 regions (57%)
No data, no laws, N/A, or ambiguous
regions (0%)
Asia
52%
LEGAL EQUALITY
Legal
23 regions (52%)
Illegal
17 regions (39%)
No data, no laws, N/A, or ambiguous
4 regions (9%)

Progress Over Time

Number of countries with equality for homosexual activity over the past 60 years.
There are no recent changes about Homosexual activity.

Homosexual activity by Country

Legal

Homosexual activity is legal in 134 regions.

  1. South America (11)
  2. Argentina 1987
  3. Bolivia 1832
  4. Brazil 1830
  5. Chile 1998
  6. Colombia 2000
  7. Ecuador 1997
  8. Paraguay 1997
  9. Peru 1991
  10. Suriname 1910
  11. Uruguay 1933
  12. Venezuela 1997
  13. Antarctica (1)
  14. Antarctica

Male illegal, female uncertain

Homosexual activity is male illegal, female uncertain in 2 regions.

  1. Asia (1)
  2. Myanmar 2016
  3. South America (1)
  4. Guyana 2016

Male illegal, female legal

Homosexual activity is male illegal, female legal in 14 regions.

  1. Asia (1)
  2. Turkmenistan 1999
  3. North America (3)
  4. Grenada 1987
  5. Jamaica 1864
  6. Saint Lucia 2005
  7. Africa (5)
  8. Eswatini 2004
  9. Ghana 1960
  10. Namibia
  11. Sierra Leone 1861
  12. Zimbabwe 2006
  13. Oceania (5)
  14. Kiribati
  15. Papua New Guinea 2002
  16. Samoa 1961
  17. Tonga 1988
  18. Tuvalu 2017

Illegal (other penalty)

Homosexual activity is illegal (other penalty) in 4 regions.

  1. Asia (1)
  2. Kuwait 1960
  3. Africa (3)
  4. Egypt 2000
  5. Nigeria 1916
  6. Uganda 2023

Illegal (imprisonment as punishment)

Homosexual activity is illegal (imprisonment as punishment) in 28 regions.

  1. Asia (8)
  2. Malaysia 1826
  3. Maldives
  4. Oman 1974
  5. Pakistan 1860
  6. Qatar
  7. Sri Lanka 1885
  8. Uzbekistan 1994
  9. Yemen 2014
  10. North America (2)
  11. Dominica 1998
  12. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1990
  13. Africa (17)
  14. Algeria 1966
  15. Burundi 2009
  16. Cameroon 1967
  17. Chad 2017
  18. Comoros 1982
  19. Eritrea 1957
  20. Ethiopia
  21. Guinea 2016
  22. Kenya 1930
  23. Liberia 1976
  24. Libya 1953
  25. Malawi 1930
  26. Morocco 1962
  27. Senegal 1966
  28. South Sudan 2011
  29. Togo 1980
  30. Tunisia 1913
  31. Oceania (1)
  32. Solomon Islands 1978

Illegal (up to life in prison as punishment)

Homosexual activity is illegal (up to life in prison as punishment) in 5 regions.

  1. Asia (1)
  2. Bangladesh 1860
  3. Africa (4)
  4. Gambia 2014
  5. Sudan 2020
  6. Tanzania 1998
  7. Zambia 1931

Illegal (death penalty as punishment)

Homosexual activity is illegal (death penalty as punishment) in 7 regions.

  1. Africa (2)
  2. Mauritania 1983
  3. Somalia 1991

No data, no laws, N/A, or ambiguous

Data on homosexual activity is unclear, not applicable, or missing in 4 regions.

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