In 2019, there were 65 recorded legal changes made affecting LGBT people. In the previous year, there were 114 changes made and 154 in the following year. A total of 1412 legal changes were made in the 2010s.
- December 27
- November 13Legal recognition of non-binary gender becomes recognized.Massachusetts residents can self-identify as non-binary with an X gender marker on their driver's license, IDs and birth certificate.
- NovemberRight to change legal gender becomes legal, surgery not required.Surgery is not required to change the gender marker on IDs such as State ID or a driver's license.
- October 29Legal recognition of non-binary gender becomes recognized.New Mexico allows gender neutral gender options
- October 15Equal age of consent becomes equal.Equalized under the child protection act, for both homosexual and heterosexual activity is 18 years old . However under the Indonesian Penal code the minimum age of consent for heterosexual activity is minimum 15 years old, whereas the age of consent for homosexual activity is 18 years old. In 2019, the marriageable age for a heterosexual marriage is equalized to 19 years old for both males and females.
- October 7LGBT discrimination becomes illegal in some contexts.The Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act (MRHA) was amended in 2019 to include protections for individuals from the LGBTQ community. In 2021, Minister for Home Affairs and Law K Shanmugam stated that “LGBTQ persons, non-LGBTQ persons, we are all equal. We are not any lesser by reason of our sexual preferences.”
- October 1Legal recognition of non-binary gender becomes recognized.Maryland residents can self-identify their gender (with an X gender marker as one of the options) on their driver's license or state IDs.
- Legal recognition of non-binary gender becomes recognized.Maryland residents can self-identify their gender (with an X gender marker as one of the options) on their driver's license or state IDs.
- September 20Blood donations by MSMs becomes banned (1-year deferral).MSMs can now donate blood, but with a 1-year deferral. Deferral may be trimmed down to 4 months.
- September 6Right to change legal gender becomes illegal.There is no longer a right to change one’s legal gender.
- August 27Conversion therapy becomes banned.The governor has signed into law a bill banning conversion therapy, which took effect 90 days after it was signed on May 29, 2019
- August 16Same-sex marriage becomes legal.Same-sex marriage in Aguascalientes turned legal in accordance with a ruling from the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation on 2 April 2019 that the state's ban on same-sex marriage violated Articles 1 and 4 of the Constitution of Mexico. The ruling came into effect upon publication in the Official Gazette of the Federation on 16 August 2019, legalizing same-sex marriage in Aguascalientes.
- August 2Conversion therapy becomes banned.On August 2, 2019, North Carolina governor signed an executive order to prohibit the use of state funds for conversion therapy on minors with the aim of changing their sexual orientation or gender identity.
- July 25Same-sex marriage becomes foreign same-sex marriages recognized only.Marriage is defined as a union between a male and a female in the Bulgarian constitution. However, there is recognition of residence for foreign marriage, but it is a limited recognition.
- July 10
- July 9Legal recognition of non-binary gender becomes recognized.Nova Scotia residents can ask for an X on their birth certificate or driver's license, or they can opt to remove the gender marker altogether, free of charge.
- July 8
- July 5
- Homosexual activity becomes illegal (imprisonment as punishment).Article 402 of the Penal Code outlines moral offences, including "sexual relations between persons of the same sex", punishable by imprisonment of up to six months and a fine of up to 5 million CFA francs.
- June 21
- Equal age of consent becomes equal.Equal age of consent at 16. Previously, anal sex was set at 18.
- June 18Legal recognition of non-binary gender becomes recognized.The new law also allows people to register a third gender option 'X' as their legal gender.
- Right to change legal gender becomes legal, surgery not required.A new law has been passed that allows Icelandic people to change their resistered gender without medical interventions.
- June 15Right to change legal gender becomes legal, surgery not required.New Mexican born residents can request to change their legal gender marker. Surgery is not required.
- June 13
- LGBT housing discrimination becomes sexual orientation and gender identity.When renting a property, the owner cannot refuse a tenant on the basis of ethnicity, religion, social status or sexual orientation or any social group someone belongs to. It is written in the Federal Constitution, discrimination is a crime.
- LGBT discrimination becomes illegal.The Supreme Federal Court criminalised LGBT discrimination nationwide, and now, according to the new law, it is considered a "crime of racism".
- LGBT housing discrimination becomes sexual orientation and gender identity.Under federal regulation.
- June 11Homosexual activity becomes legal.Botswana's High Court has ruled in favour of decriminalising homosexuality in a landmark decision for campaigners.
- June 3
- Blood donations by MSMs becomes banned (3-month deferral).Following the Canadian Blood Services guidelines.
- Blood donations by MSMs becomes banned (3-month deferral).Following the Canadian Blood Services guidelines.
- Blood donations by MSMs becomes banned (3-month deferral).Following Canadian Blood Services guidelines.
- Blood donations by MSMs becomes banned (3-month deferral).Following Canadian Blood Services guidelines.
- Blood donations by MSMs becomes banned (3-month deferral).Following the Canadian Blood Services guidelines.
- Blood donations by MSMs becomes banned (3-month deferral).Following the Canadian Blood Services Guidelines.
- Blood donations by MSMs becomes banned (3-month deferral).Following Canadian Blood Services guidelines, change pending.
- Blood donations by MSMs becomes banned (3-month deferral).
- May 31Conversion therapy becomes banned.Conversion Therapy is banned for people under the age of 18. It is also considered a "deceptive trade practice" to advertise such services.
- May 24Same-sex marriage becomes legal.On 24 May 2017, the Constitutional Court ruled that the constitutional right to equality and freedom of marriage guarantees same-sex couples the right to marry under the Constitution of the Republic of China. The ruling (Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 748) gave the Legislative Yuan two years to bring the marriage laws into compliance, after which registration of such marriages would come into force automatically. On 20 February 2019, a draft bill entitled the Enforcement Act of Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 748 was released. The draft bill would grant same-sex married couples almost all the rights available to heterosexual married couples under the Civil Code, with the exception that it only allows adoption of a child genetically related to one of them. The Executive Yuan passed it the following day, sending it to the Legislative Yuan for fast-tracked review. The bill was passed on 17 May, signed by the President on 22 May and took effect on 24 May 2019 (the last day possible under the Court's ruling).
- April 22Legal recognition of non-binary gender becomes recognized.Nevada-born residents can request an X gender marker on their birth certificates. Residents can ask for an X on IDs and driver's licenses.
- April 11Serving openly in military becomes lesbians, gays, bisexuals permitted, transgender people banned.New policy goes into effect barring individuals with a "condition" known as "gender dysphoria."
- April 8Conversion therapy becomes banned.Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker signed HR 140, a bill that bans gay conversion therapy on minors, into law on April 8, 2019.
- March 30
- March 28Homosexual activity becomes illegal (death penalty as punishment).Death penalty for married men caught in having homosexual offenses (unenforced); 100 lashes for unmarried men. 40 strokes of the cane or maximum 10 years of imprisonment for women.
- March 27Conversion therapy becomes banned.It was banned since 2019 by executive order due to the mental issues people suffered from these conversion therapies .
- March 25Legal recognition of non-binary gender becomes ambiguous.Not currently available for birth certificates, but initially available for driver's licenses and state IDs.
- March 12Legal recognition of non-binary gender becomes recognized.X gender markers available on driver's licenses. However, since January 2020, state agencies can’t use non-binary gender marker.
- February 15LGBT employment discrimination becomes sexual orientation and gender identity.The Law 13/2019, of 15 February, for equal treatment and non-discrimination, provides protection for LGBT people, among others, in numerous areas including employment, education, health care, social services, housing, public establishments, etc. Article 4(2) states: «No one may be discriminated against on the basis of birth, nationality or lack of nationality, racial origin or ethnicity, sex or female gender, religion, philosophical, political or trade union opinion, language, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other personal or social condition or circumstance.»
- February 14
- February 1Legal recognition of non-binary gender becomes recognized.New Jersey-born residents can ask for an X as their gender marker on their birth certificate as well as IDs.
- January 24
- January 11Conversion therapy becomes not banned.There is no legislation prohibiting conversion therapy in Portugal. In 2023, Portugal's parliament passed a bill that includes a ban on conversion therapy, amongst other measures, but this needs to be passed by the President of the Republic before it becomes law. In 2019, after an open letter by 250 psychologists to the the regulatory Ordem dos Psicólogos, the body affirmed that conversion therapy is malpractice and has no basis in science and is not justifiable.
- January 4Conversion therapy becomes banned.
LGBT Organizations Founded in 2019
Stop Bullshit
GlobalStop Bullshit (Polish: Stop Bzdurom) was a queer anarchist collective in Warsaw with the goal of fighting homophobia and transphobia, founded in May 2019 by Małgorzata "Margot"…