In 1996, there were 19 recorded legal changes made affecting LGBT people. In the previous year, there were 22 changes made and 18 in the following year. A total of 316 legal changes were made in the 1990s.
- November 26Same-sex marriage becomes foreign same-sex marriages recognized only.Foreign Same sex marriages recognized under EU law.
- Same-sex marriage becomes not legal.Article 32 of the constitution defines marriage to be between a man and a woman.
- November 6LGBT housing discrimination becomes no protections.
- LGBT discrimination becomes no protections.Homosexuality is illegal and as such not covered as a ground to have protection against discrimination.
- October 16Same-sex marriage becomes not legal.State Statute defining marriage as between one man and one woman
- August 29
- August 24Same-sex marriage becomes not legal.Mississippi governor ordered an executive order to ban same sex marriage
- June 28
- June 1LGBT employment discrimination becomes sexual orientation only.Federal human rights law applies directly to only federal government employment and employers which fall under federal jurisdiction. Gender identity is only implicitly protected under interpretation of the law by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. Attempts have been made to have gender identity and gender expression added as protected classes to both the Canadian Human Rights Act and Criminal Code, though none of these attempts so far has been successful. Provincial human rights acts are separate, but Supreme Court precedent exists for requiring provinces to protect the same classes as the Canadian Human Rights Act. At this time all provinces protect against employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Of the provinces only Ontario has explicit protection on the basis of both gender identity and gender expression in its human rights code, though several provide implicit protections on the basis of gender identity or "transsexualism" under the category of "sex" or "gender".
- May 15Same-sex marriage becomes unrecognized.Tennessee Act of 1996 define marriage as a union between one man and one woman.
- May 8Same-sex marriage becomes unrecognized.Country just got rid of the constitutional ban on gay marriage.
- Same-sex marriage becomes not legal.Several provisions within the constitution, the family law and the civil code points to the definition of a marriage as being a union between a man and a woman.
- LGBT discrimination becomes illegal.
- Serving openly in military becomes lesbians, gays, bisexuals permitted, transgender people banned.Not a single country in Africa including South Africa doesn’t allow trans military service
- April 26Same-sex marriage becomes civil unions.Recognized Denmark's registered partnership law on this date.
- March 1Homosexual activity becomes legal.
- January 24Right to change legal gender becomes legal, but requires surgery.Requires surgery to changes documents. Missing non binary options on documents.
- 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.