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1973 in LGBT Rights

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In 1973, there were 16 recorded legal changes made affecting LGBT people. In the previous year, there were 67 changes made and 17 in the following year. A total of 235 legal changes were made in the 1970s.

  • December 21
    Same-sex marriage becomes banned.
    Article 242 of the family law states explicitly that marriage is between a man and a woman who has cohabited for more than 3 years. The recent movement of "accidental passage" of same sex marriage has not taken effect or exercised.
  • November 25
    Right to change legal gender becomes legal, but requires surgery.
    Gender reassignment surgeries are legal in Singapore, and in 1973 the government allowed patients to change their identity cards. This change implicitly recognized marriages that included an individual that had undergone surgery. In 1996, Member of Parliament (MP) Abdullah Tarmugi made an announcement that individuals who have undergone surgery could marry someone of the opposite sex.
  • September 11
    Censorship of LGBT issues becomes state-enforced.
    Under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, LGBTIQ+ people in Chile faced brutal persecution and all remnants of advocacy were violently suppressed by the regime.
  • June 11
    Censorship of LGBT issues becomes fine as punishment.
    In 1973, Buenos Aires Province prohibited people from "dressing and pretending to be a person of the opposite sex in daily life" with a fine being issued to offenders. This law was used to criminalise trans people in practice.
  • April 10
    Same-sex marriage becomes banned.
    Sub. §2.1. of Title 9 of the Domestic Relations Law defines marriage as “a civil contract between a male and female”.
  • March
    Gender-affirming care becomes restricted.
    In 1973, Chile legalized sterilization, which de facto meant legalizing sex reassignment surgery. In March, the first surgery was performed although no one knew about it until the next year.
  • January 29
    Homosexual activity becomes legal.
    In 1973, homosexual acts were made legal by the government
  • (date unknown)
    Censorship of LGBT issues becomes imprisonment as punishment.
    In 1973, President Hastings Banda implemented a reform to the Penal Code which added a clause to Section 180 against idle persons. The clause explicitly prohibited men from wearing long hair. While often viewed as a response to the growing hippy movement, the law has in practice also been used to persecute transgender women, who are denied legal gender recognition, who decide to grow their hair long to express their gender. The law would be repealed in 2011.
  • January 1
    Same-sex marriage becomes banned.
    In 1973, Maryland became the first state in the United States to legally define a marriage as between a man and a woman and ban same-sex couples from marrying. However, there were cases of marriages outside the state being recognised.
  • (date unknown)
    Gender-affirming care becomes legal, but restricted for minors.
    Trans youths with both parents’ consent can access HRT through private healthcare if they are above 16, and through public healthcare if they are above 18. HRT approval for trans youths under 21 is much stricter, especially given the global climate surrounding transitioning for trans youths. You will be subject to significantly more evaluation than trans adults, and some individuals have been rejected for HRT despite having consent from both parents. For trans adults, gender affirming health care has been legal since 1973, the first country in Asia to legalise it.
  • Gender-affirming care becomes legal.
    In 1973, the first sex reassignment surgery was performed in Indonesia. Since then, surgery and hormones have been offered in Indonesia but are not often advertised and social stigma inhibits this in practice.
  • Homosexual activity becomes legal.
    In 1973, North Dakota repealed its sodomy laws, legalising homosexuality.
  • January 1
    Homosexual activity becomes legal.
    Legislative repeal, effective 1973.
  • Homosexual activity becomes legal.
    Legislative repeal, effective 1973.
  • (date unknown)
    Right to change legal gender becomes legal, but requires surgery.
    A court ruling in Indonesia in December 2009 stipulated that Indonesians who have undergone gender re-assignment surgery must be allowed to change their gender on identity documents.
  • January 1
    Same-sex marriage becomes varies by region.
    From January 1973 to June 2015, the legality of gay marriage in the United States varied by state. Maryland passed the first law banning marriages in 1973 with others following suit but not all. On November 18th, 2003, Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that banning same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, and their ruling came into effect on May 17th, 2004. Massachusetts was the first state to legalize same-sex marriage. Between May 17th, 2004, and June 26th, 2015, when the United States Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, 37 states and the District of Columbia legalized same-sex marriage.

LGBT Organizations Founded in 1973

  • Lambda Legal FaviconLambda Legal
    United States
    Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through…
  • National Gay and Lesbian Task Force FaviconNational Gay and Lesbian Task Force
    United States
    The mission of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is to build the grassroots power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.