In 1940, there were 8 recorded legal changes made affecting LGBT people. In the previous year, there were 2 changes made and 2 in the following year. A total of 58 legal changes were made in the 1940s.
- December 7
- August 10Homosexual activity becomes legal.The Icelandic parliament decriminalizes homosexuality; removing the provision of the law that made homosexuality illegal.
- May 28Homosexual activity becomes illegal (death penalty as punishment).Belgium was under German occupation during World War II and thus Paragraph 175 was in effect.
- May 15Homosexual activity becomes illegal (imprisonment as punishment).During the German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II homosexuality was criminalized by Paragraph 175.
- January 30Homosexual activity becomes legal.Homosexuality is legal in the DRC.
- January 1Homosexual activity becomes male illegal, female legal.Lithuania was absorbed by the USSR in 1940. An article under which sodomy was punishable by imprisonment from 5 to 8 years existed in the Soviet Criminal Code from March 7, 1934 - number 154-a: “Sexual intercourse between a man and a man (sodomy) - imprisonment for a term of three to five years. Sodomy committed with the use of violence or taking advantage of the dependent position of the victim - imprisonment for a term of five to eight years."
- Homosexual activity becomes male illegal, female legal.Same-sex sexual activity between males in Soviet Estonia was illegal and punishable under paragraph 118 of the penal code