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1961 in LGBT Rights

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In 1961, there were 9 recorded legal changes made affecting LGBT people. In the previous year, there were 22 changes made and 9 in the following year. A total of 85 legal changes were made in the 1960s.

  • December 15
    Homosexual activity becomes legal.
    Homosexual activity was decriminalised in Hungary in 1961.
  • November 24
    Homosexual activity becomes illegal (imprisonment as punishment).
    Homosexuality was criminalised in Mongolia in 1961 through its Criminal Code.
  • October 24
    Homosexual activity becomes illegal (imprisonment as punishment).
    In 1961, Ohio adopted a new law that expressly prohibited the solicitation of any person, of any gender, to engage in an “unnatural sex act”. The punishment upon conviction was up to six months imprisonment and/or a $200 fine. The person would also be subjected to institutionalization under the Ascherman Act.
  • October 11
    Censorship of LGBT issues becomes state-enforced.
    Since 1961, there was state-sanctioned persecution of the LGBTIQ+ community in Cuba. Homosexuals were even placed in forced labour camps between 1965 to 1968 in an attempt to "cure" their sexuality with torture methods.
  • June 27
    Right to change legal gender becomes legal, but requires surgery.
    Since 1961, there have been cases of legal gender recognition being granted in Basel-Stadt but surgery was required.
  • Right to change legal gender becomes varies by region.
    Until 1993, there was no federal legal recognition for gender identity in Switzerland. However, between 1961 and 1993, there were cases of cantons providing legal recognition.
  • May 11
    Censorship of LGBT issues becomes imprisonment as punishment.
    In 1961, Santa Cruz passed laws prohibiting people from "making proposals tending to homosexual practices" and "dressing as a person of the opposite sex or pretending to be such" with imprisonment. This was used to criminalise the expression of homosexuals and transgender people, although the latter could do so at carnivals and with due authorisation. The anti-gay law was repealed in 2006, but the anti-trans law would not be repealed until 2010.
  • (date unknown)
    Homosexual activity becomes male illegal, female legal.
    Up to 5 years prison. Decriminalization pending.
  • January 1
    Homosexual activity becomes legal.
    Homosexuality was legalized in the former Czechoslovakia.

LGBT Organizations Founded in 1961

  • Amnesty International FaviconAmnesty International
    Global
    Amnesty International is a global movement of more than 3 million supporters, members and activists in over 150 countries and territories who campaign to end grave abuses of…