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1982 in LGBT Rights

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In 1982, there were 16 recorded legal changes made affecting LGBT people. In the previous year, there were 12 changes made and 36 in the following year. A total of 169 legal changes were made in the 1980s.

  • December 20
    LGBT employment discrimination becomes varies by region.
    In 1982, New South Wales added homosexuality as a protected characteristic from employment discrimination. Other states and territories would pass laws protecting LGBTIQ+ people from employment discrimination at varying times. The Workplace Relations Act of 1996 provided federal protections from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, but some states also provided it to gender identity. Federal law would include gender identity in 2013.
  • LGBT employment discrimination becomes sexual orientation only.
    In 1982, New South Wales amended its anti-discrimination act to add homosexuality as a protected characteristic from employment discrimination. However, transgender people remained unprotected until 1996.
  • December 9
    Homosexual activity becomes legal.
    15 years after the rest of the UK legalized sexual acts between two men who were 21 or older, the legalisation was extended to Northern Ireland with the "Homosexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 1982". The act prohibited sex in places where a third party was likely to be present.
  • September 23
    Homosexual activity becomes legal.
    Homosexuality was decriminalised in Portugal in 1982.
  • August 4
    Equal age of consent becomes equal.
    The age of consent in France is 15 for both male-male, female-female, and male-female sex.
  • May 8
    Homosexual activity becomes illegal (imprisonment as punishment).
    The law forbade "sexual acts “against nature.” This is understood to ban same-sex sexual activity, it is punishable by up to 5 years imprisonment and/or a 1,000,000 Comorian franc fine. However, it is not believed to be actively enforced except for the prosecution of a lesbian couple in 2024. The 2024 case is the only known prosecution in the country's history.
  • April 14
    Right to change legal gender becomes legal, but requires surgery.
    Law no. 164 of 14 April 1982 was the first law in Italy to introduce the possibility of changing sex. This law was published in the Official Gazette no. 106 of 19.04.1982 and came into force on 4 May 1982. Before 1982, Transgender people did not have the possibility of changing sex and name, living as if trapped in a biological body that they did not feel was their own. At the end of the 70s there were several protests in Italy by the LGBT movement that pushed politics to take an interest in the issue of sexual transition. With Law 164/1982, however, sex rectification was only possible after surgery.
  • Right to change legal gender becomes legal, but requires surgery.
    Before the landmark 2015 decision surgery was required for people to change their legal gender.
  • March 5
    LGBT employment discrimination becomes sexual orientation only.
    In 1982, Republican Governor Dreyfus signed a bill giving LGB people employment discrimination protections, making Wisconsin the first state in the union to do so.
  • February 13
    Censorship of LGBT issues becomes imprisonment as punishment.
    Article 333 bis of the Penal Code, as amended on 13 February 1982 by Law n° 82-04, criminalizes the distribution of anything against "decency" with up to 2 years in prison and a fine up to 2,000 dinars. Article 333, also amended in 1982, criminalizes indecent exposure of any "act against the order of nature with an individual of the same sex" with up to 3 years in prison and a fine up to 10,000 dinars. In January 2023 the Ministry of Commerce announced that all rainbow colored products, including flags, toys, and Qurans, are no longer allowed to be sold in the country. The Algerian government mass SMS texted citizens to warn them of fines for violating this order. In August 2023, Algeria's Ministry of Culture and Arts forced movie theaters to immediately stop showing the film, "Barbie." An official source told Reuters that the film "promotes homosexuality and other Western deviances."
  • (date unknown)
    Same-sex adoption becomes legal.
    The 1982 legislation governing adoption in Quebec was written gender neutrally, allowing LGB couples to adopt. It states: "any person of full age may, alone or jointly with another person, adopt a child".
  • January 1
    Right to change legal gender becomes legal, but requires surgery.
    Since 1982, Alberta required surgery for legal gender recognition.
  • (date unknown)
    Same-sex marriage becomes banned.
    Article 44 of Venezuela’s Penal Code in 1982 states that a marriage may only be entered into by one man and one woman and that otherwise it would not be recognised, effectively banning same-sex marriage.
  • Same-sex adoption becomes legal.
    Individuals and married couples jointly may petition for adoption per La. CHC 1198, 1202. Second-parent adoption is not legal.
  • Equal age of consent becomes equal.
  • Equal age of consent becomes equal.

LGBT Organizations Founded in 1982

  • Anti Violence Project FaviconAnti Violence Project
    New York, United States
    AVP empowers lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and HIV-affected communities and allies to end all forms of violence through organizing and education, and supports…