Homosexuality laws of the world

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World laws on homosexuality

Image:SSM NorthAm 2006.PNG

Status of same-sex union laws in North America.

Image:Samesex Map Europe.png

Same-sex unions in Europe.

Image:European age of male erotic emancipatio.jpg

Ages of consent for young males to engage in relationships with adult men. in Europe

The countries of the world have a wide variety of laws relating to sexual relations between people of the same sex - everything from full same-sex marriage to the death penalty as punishment for homosexual intercourse. Among the first laws on same-sex love relations ca. 600 BC are those in ancient Crete and Sparta, which encouraged all adult men to engage in mentoring homoerotic friendships.

The first recorded laws against sexual intercourse between men dates to 550 BC during the Babylonian captivity of the Jewish people, it is recorded in Leviticus (though some scholars date Leviticus much older), and it prescribes the death penalty. It is largely seen as a distinction between Judaism and Paganism on par with worshiping "false gods". At the time same-sex love relations were incorporated into many Pagan religions. This pattern was continued throughout history with punitive laws arising from traditional interpretations of Judaism and its descendants: Christianity and Islam. With the advent of colonialism this attitude spread along with political control from the imperial powers of the Abrahamic religions. In post-colonial times some non-Abrahamic religions have maintained their adoptive views of homosexuality. Usually an Abrahamic religion is the primary factor when accounting for a law against homosexuality and the major supporter.

Christian psychologists in Europe also attempted to rationalize the negative views of sodomy predominant in Europe in the middle ages with secular language, calling it a disease, by which means it was later absorbed as non-religious science in Communist states.

In addition to laws against the practice of homosexuality, many countries around the world consider calling a person homosexual sufficient grounds for a libel lawsuit. For example, Jason Donovan and Liberace have sued newspapers that ran articles insinuating they were gay; both men won their lawsuits.

This is a list of laws around the world concerning homosexuality. The list is arranged alphabetically by region. It should be noted that this list should not be assumed to represent a standard for measuring a nation's views, per se. Many nations which retained negative laws for a lengthy period of time, or even retain them today, may in practice be less oppressive of homosexuality than this suggests, with such laws simply being unenforced anachronisms. Similarly, a country which lacks formal laws against it may possess a culture which is openly hostile and may chose to persecute individuals by other means.

For greater depth in coverage see these related articles.

1 Homosexuality laws
2 See also
3 External links

[edit] Homosexuality laws

Country links marked "(☆)" feature special "Gay rights" articles about the country in question.

[edit] Africa

Country	Laws against homosexuality	Max. Penalty	Min. Penalty	Same-sex Unions	Laws against discrimination	Comments
Algeria	Yes	3 years	Fine	-	No
Angola	Yes	Unknown	Unknown	-	No
Benin	Yes	3 years	Unknown	-	No
Botswana	Yes	7 years	Fine	-	No
☆Burkina Faso	No	-	-	-	No	See Gay rights in Burkina Faso
Burundi	No	-	-	-	No
☆Cameroon	Yes	5 years	Fine	-	No	See Gay rights in Cameroon
Cape Verde	No	-	-	-	No	Homosexual acts decriminalised by the new Penal Code of 2004.
☆Central African Republic	No	-	-	-	No	See Gay rights in the Central African Republic
☆Chad	No	-	-	-	No	See Gay rights in Chad
Comoros	Unclear	-	-	-	No
☆Republic of the Congo	No	-	-	-	No	See Gay rights in the Republic of the Congo
Côte d'Ivoire	No	-	-	-	No
Djibouti	Yes	Unknown	Unknown	-	No
☆Egypt	Unclear	-	-	-	No	Although not illegal, commonly oppressed with vague morality laws. See Gay rights in Egypt
Equatorial Guinea	No	-	-	-	No
Eritrea	Yes	3 years	10 days	-	No
Ethiopia	Yes	3 years	10 days	-	No
☆Gabon	No	-	-	-	No	As of 1994, the age of consent for "gross indedency" and "act against nature" was 21, while it was 15 for most other sexual activity. See Gay rights in Gabon.
Gambia	Yes	14 years	Fine	-	No
☆Ghana	Yes	?	?	-	No	See Gay rights in Ghana
Guinea	Yes	3 years	6 months	-	No
Guinea Bissau	Yes	?	?	-	No
☆Kenya	Male only	14 years	Fine	-	No	See Gay rights in Kenya
Lesotho	Male only	Unknown	Unknown	-	No
Liberia	Yes	Fine	Fine	-	No
Libya	Yes	5 years	Fine	-	No
Madagascar	No	-	-	-	No
Malawi	Yes	14 years	Unknown	-	No
☆Mali	No	-	-	-	No	See Gay rights in Mali
Mauritania	Yes	Death	Death	-	No
Mauritius	Yes	5 years	Fine	-	No
☆Morocco	Yes	3 years	6 months	-	No	See Gay rights in Morocco
Mozambique	Yes	3 years	Fine	-	No
Namibia	Male only	Unknown	Unknown	-	Yes	Laws against discrimination in Labour Code since 1992
☆Niger	No	-	-	-	No	See Gay rights in Niger
☆Nigeria	Male only	14 years	Fine	-	No	Areas under Sharia have instituted death for men and women. See Gay rights in Nigeria
Rwanda	No	-	-	-	No
São Tomé and Príncipe	Yes	?	?	-	No
Senegal	Yes	5 years	1 month	-	No
Seychelles	Yes	Unknown	Unknown	-	No
Sierra Leone	Yes	Life	-	-	The Anti-Corruption Commission stated in a press release that in a bid to attract competent and qualified staff, they operate a transparent recruitment policy, which even forbids discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
Somalia	Yes	3 years	3 months	-	No	Areas under Sharia have instituted death for men and women.
☆South Africa	No	-	-	Unregistered Cohabitation	Yes	Constitution explicitly protects against sexual orientation discrimination. Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage, coming in 2006. See Gay rights in South Africa
Sudan	Yes	Death	5 years	-	No
Swaziland	Male only	Prison	Fine	-	No
Tanzania	Yes	Life	-	-	No	In Zanzibar male homosexual acts are punished with up to 25 years imprisonment or fine. Lesbian acts are punished with up 7 years imprisonment or fine.
Togo	Yes	3 years	Fine	-	No
Tunisia	Yes	3 years	Fine	-	No	See Gay rights in Tunisia
Uganda	Male only	Life (20 years)	Fine	-	No
Zambia	Male only	14 years	Fine	-	No
Zimbabwe	Male only	3 years	Fine	-	No	See Gay rights in Zimbabwe

[edit] Asia

Country	Laws against homosexuality	Max. Penalty	Min. Penalty	Same-sex Unions	Laws against discrimination	Comments
☆Afghanistan	Yes	15 years	5 years	-	No	Homosexuality is still a crime, but the death penalty (imposed under the Taliban) is no longer used. The Penal Code from 1976 in force, stipulates long imprisonment for adultery and pederasty. See Gay rights in Afghanistan.
☆Bahrain	Male only	10 years	Fine	-	No	See Gay rights in Bahrain
Bangladesh	Yes	Life	10 years	-	No
Bhutan	Yes	?	?	-	No
Brunei	Yes	10 years	Fine	-	No
☆Cambodia	No	-	-	-	No	Former king Norodom Sihanouk has called for legalization of same-sex marriage. See Gay rights in Cambodia
☆China (PRC)	No	-	-	-	No	Marriage laws under-review. see Gay rights in China
Hong Kong	No	-	-	-	Considered	AD under consideration. Court ruling in 2005 equalised age of consent with that for heterosexual sex. The judgment is being appealed by the Government in 2006. See Gay rights in China#Hong Kong.
☆India	Yes	Life	Fine	-	No	Law remains on books but government does not prosecute, criminalizes 'carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman, or animal'. See Gay rights in India.
Indonesia	No	-	-	-	No	In 2003 a proposal to criminalize homosexuality failed.
☆Iran	Yes	Death	Death	-	No	Sex change operations have been given official government support as means to cure a gender identity disease. Executions for homosexuality continue, most recently teenagers Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni. See LGBT rights in Iran.
☆Iraq	Unclear	-	-	-	No	Criminal code amended to include death penalty for homosexuality in 2001. The U.S. occupation restored the criminal code back to its original 1969 edition. No provisions of the current Iraqi criminal code deal with homosexuality. However, the government has issued a decree allowing Islamic laws relating to family issues to be enforced. Whether this criminalizes adultery and homosexuality is unclear. See Gay rights in Iraq.
☆Israel	No	-	-	Civil Partnership (Under process of legislation)	Yes	Fairly strong support for giving legal recognition to same-sex couples. Only Middle Eastern nation to support gay rights legislation. The armed forces of Israel allow service without any distinction based on sexual orientation. See Gay rights in Israel.
☆Japan	No	-	-	-	Yes	AD in Human Rights Act since 2001. See Gay rights in Japan.
☆Jordan	No	-	-	-	No	While not a crime, reports have shown that gays can be victims of vigilante "honor killings." See Gay rights in Jordan.
Kazhakstan	No	-	-	-	No
Kuwait	Yes	7 years	Fine	-	No
Kyrgyzstan	No	-	-	-	No
Laos	No	-	-	-	No	US Department of state says that no discrimination against homosexuals exist, and this is verified by an interview with gay men in Laos by a Swedish newspaper in 1992. For further details see Penal Code.[1]
☆Lebanon	Yes	1 year	Fine	-	No	A small public campaign exists to legalize homosexual relations between consenting adults in private. See Gay rights in Lebanon.
Macao	No	-	-	-	No
Malaysia	Yes	20 years	Fine	-	No	Former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who was himself jailed for homosexuality, has called for their repeal. The daughter of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Marina Mahathir, has called for an end to discrimination based on sexual orientation.[2] However, as Prime Minister, her father warned gay ministers in foreign countries not to visit his nation.[3]
Maldives	Male only	10 years	Fine	-	No
Mongolia	No	-	-	-	No
Myanmar	Yes	Life	10 years	-	No
Nepal	Yes	1 year	-	-	No
North Korea	No	-	-	-	No	No public discussion or reference to homosexuality is allowed. Seen as a capitalist disease or vice. See Gay rights in North Korea.
Oman	Yes	3 years	Fine	-	No
Pakistan	Male only	Life	2 years	-	No	See Gay rights in Pakistan
☆Palestinian Authority	Partly	?	?	-	No	Homosexual acts illegal in Gaza by the Criminal Code Ordinance 1936 in force. While it is legal in the West Bank where the Jordan Penal Code of 1960 in in force, some are arrested or tortured. Gay Palestinians often attempt to flee to Israel as they are targeted for death in Palestinian-controlled areas. See Gay Palestinian issues.
☆Philippines	No	-	-	-	Considered	Communist Party facilitates same-sex marriage. Same-sex marriages banned since 2003. See Gay rights in the Philippines
Qatar	Yes	5 years	Fine	-	No
☆Saudi Arabia	Yes	Death	Death	-	No	Jail time, fines or whipping may be used in lieu of the death penalty. See Gay rights in Saudi Arabia
☆Singapore	Yes	Life	2 years	-	No	Law is rarely enforced, usually when it suspects risk of HIV infections during events such as sex parties. [4] Government officials have made calls to embrace diversity. Former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong stated that open homosexuals can be employed in the civil workforce. See Discrimination against homosexuals in Singapore.
South Korea	Yes	1 years	1 years	-	No	Discrimination based on sexual orientation is against the law, though military service is restricted and gay websites are censored. Currently Korean military penal code stricts homosexual acts whether consented or not to a maximum of one year servitude. Discrimination exists in the procedure for the military physical examination, and also a man with the military discharge record which blocks the regular employment chance. See Gay rights in South Korea.
Sri Lanka	Yes	10 years	Fine	-	No
Syria	Yes	3 years	Fine	-	No
☆Taiwan	No	-	-	-	No	Pending law allows same-sex marriage. See Gay rights in Taiwan.
Tajikistan	No	-	-	-	No
☆Thailand	No	-	-	-	No	Thailand now permits gays and transsexuals to serve in its military. [5]. See Gay rights in Thailand
Turkmenistan	Male only	2 years	Fine	-	No
☆United Arab Emirates	Yes	Death	Unknown	-	No	See Gay rights in the United Arab Emirates.
Uzbekistan	Male only	3 years	Fine	-	No	Only applies to anal sex.
Vietnam	No	-	-	-	No	Same-sex marriages banned since 1998. Reports suggest that this law may extend to a prohibition on same-sex couples living together or having any sort of public commitment celebration.
Yemen	Yes	Death	Flogging	-	No

[edit] Europe

Country	Laws against homosexuality	Max. Penalty	Min. Penalty	Same-sex Unions	Laws against discrimination	Comments
Albania	No	-	-	-	No
Andorra	No	-	-	Stable unions	Unknown
Armenia	No	-	-	-	No
☆Austria	No	-	-	-	Yes	See Gay rights in Austria.
Azerbaijan	No	-	-	-	No
☆Belgium	No	-	-	Same-sex marriage	Yes	See Gay rights in Belgium
☆Belarus	No	-	-	-	No	See Gay rights in Belarus.
☆Bosnia-Herzegovina	No	-	-	-	Yes	AD in Gender Equality Act since 2003. See Gay rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina
☆Bulgaria	No	-	-	-	Yes	Gay rights in Bulgaria
☆Croatia	No	-	-	Unregistered cohabitation	Yes	See Gay rights in Croatia.
☆Cyprus	No	-	-	-	Yes	See Gay rights in Cyprus
☆Czech Republic	No	-	-	Registered partnership	Yes	See Gay rights in the Czech Republic
☆Denmark	No	-	-	Registered partnership	Yes	First counry to legalize same-sex partnerships of any kind (1989) See Gay rights in Denmark
☆Estonia	No	-	-	-	Yes	See Gay rights in Estonia
Faroe Islands	No	-	-	-	No
☆Finland	No	-	-	Registered partnership	Yes	See Gay rights in Finland.
☆France	No	-	-	pacte civil de solidarité	Yes	It should be noted that French civil unions are not explicitly for same-sex couples, and are becoming an increasingly popular choice among all couples. See Gay rights in France.
Georgia	No	-	-	-	Yes
☆Germany	No	-	-	Registered partnership	Yes	See Gay rights in Germany
☆Greece	No	-	-	-	Yes	See Gay rights in Greece
Guernsey
☆Hungary	No	-	-	Unregistered cohabitation	Yes	See Gay rights in Hungary
Iceland	No	-	-	Registered partnership	Yes
☆Ireland	No	-	-	-	Yes	See Gay rights in the Republic of Ireland.
Isle of Man	No	-	-	-	Yes
Italy	No	-	-	Some regions	Yes	Civil unions are recognised in Tuscany, Umbria, Emilia Romagna, Campania, Marche, Veneto, Puglia, Lazio, Liguria and Abruzzo.
Jersey	No	-	-	-	No
Latvia	No	-	-	-	No	Same-sex marriages banned.
☆Liechtenstein	No	-	-	-	Yes	Gay rights in Liechtenstein
Lithuania	No	-	-	-	Yes
Luxembourg	No	-	-	Registered partnerships	Yes
☆Macedonia	No	-	-	-	No	See Gay rights in Macedonia.
Malta	No	-	-	-	Yes
Moldova	No	-	-	-	Considered
Monaco	No	-	-	Yes	Yes
☆Montenegro	No	-	-	-	No	See Gay rights in Montenegro.
☆Netherlands	No	-	-	Same-sex marriage and Registered partnerships	Yes	See Gay rights in the Netherlands.
Norway	No	-	-	Registered partnership	Yes
☆Poland	No	-	-	-	Yes	See Gay rights in Poland.
☆Portugal	No	-	-	Registered partnership	Yes	See Gay rights in Portugal.
☆Romania	No	-	-	-	Yes	See Gay rights in Romania.
☆Russia	No	-	-	-	No	Proposals (by NPRF)to recriminalize homosexuality failed in 2002, 2003 and 2004. See Gay rights in Russia.
San Marino	No	-	-	-	No
☆Serbia	No	-	-	-	Yes*	AD in Kosovo since 2001. See Gay rights in Serbia.
☆Slovakia	No	-	-	-	Yes	See Gay rights in Slovakia.
Slovenia	No	-	-	Registered partnership	Yes
☆Spain	No	-	-	Same-sex marriage	Yes	Unregistered and Registered Cohabitation in a number of regions. See Gay rights in Spain.
☆Sweden	No	-	-	Registered partnership	Yes	Partnerships have the same rights as heterosexual marriage including adoption, but are legally distinct from marriage. See Gay rights in Sweden.
Switzerland	No	-	-	Registered partnership	No
☆Turkey	No	-	-	-	No	See Gay rights in Turkey.
☆Ukraine	No	-	-	-	No	See Gay rights in Ukraine.
☆United Kingdom	No	-	-	Civil partnership	Yes	See Gay rights in the United Kingdom.
Vatican City	No	-	-	-	No	Homosexuality is technically legal, but contrary to the teachings of the ruling Roman Catholic Church.

[edit] North and Central America

Country	Laws against homosexuality	Max. Penalty	Min. Penalty	Same-sex Unions	Laws against discrimination	Comments
Antigua and Barbuda	Yes	15 years	-	-	Unknown	Applies to both women and men
Aruba	No	-	-	?	Yes	The Dutch Government states that as part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Aruba is obliged to recognize civil unions and same-sex marriage as valid. However, the Aruban Government says it won't recognize them. A judge ruled in favor of the Dutch Government, case is now pending in higher court.
Bahamas	No	-	-	-	No
Barbados	Yes	Life	-	-	No	Laws currently under review.
Belize	Yes	Unknown	-	-	No
Bermuda	No	-	-	-	Considered
☆Canada	No	-	-	Same-sex marriage	Yes	Anti-discriminatory laws provided by constitution and Egan v. Canada; in all provincial/territorial civil rights codes since Vriend v. Alberta. Common-law marriage since M. v. H., 1999; SSM since Civil Marriage Act, 2005. For more, see Gay rights in Canada.
Cayman Islands	No	-	-	-	Yes
Costa Rica	No	-	-	-	Yes	Same-sex marriages banned. Scandalous sodomy is banned.
☆Cuba	No	-	-	-	No	See Gay rights in Cuba.
Dominican Republic	No	-	-	-	No
El Salvador	No	-	-	-	No
Grenada	Male only	10 years	-	-	No
☆Guadeloupe	No	-	-	Pacte civil de solidarité	Yes	Guadeloupe is part of the Département Français d'Amérique, so French Law is in force. See Gay rights in France.
Guatemala	No	-	-	-	Yes	AD in Youth and Childhood Act since 1997
Haiti	No	-	-	-	No
Honduras	No	-	-	-	No	Same-sex marriages and adoption banned in the Constitution since 2005.
☆Jamaica	Male only	10 years	10 years	-	No	See LGBT rights in Jamaica.
☆Martinique	No	-	-	Pacte civil de solidarité.	Yes	Martinique is part of the Département Français d'Amérique, so French Law is in force. See Gay rights in France.
Mexico	No	-	-	-	Yes	Mexican Congress reformed the Constitution in 2001, to forbid discrimination of any kind; in 2003, this change produced the Federal Law to Prevent Discrimination that forbids discrimination by sexual orientation;
Netherlands Antilles	No	-	-	Yes	Yes	As part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, civil unions and same-sex marriage are recognized as valid, however, they cannot be performed in the Netherlands Antilles themselves.
Nicaragua	Yes	3 years	Fine	-	No
Panama	No	-	-	-	No
Saint Kitts and Nevis	Male only	10 years	-	-	No
Saint Lucia	Male only	10 years	Fine	-	No
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Yes	10 years	Unknown	-	No	Applies to both men and women
Trinidad and Tobago	Yes	25 years	Fine	-	No	Applies to both men and women
Turks and Caicos Islands	No	-	-	-	No
☆United States	No. See Lawrence v. Texas	-	-	Civil Unions: VT, CT. Domestic partnerships: CA, NJ, ME, DC. Reciprocal benefits: HI. Same-sex marriage: MA.	Yes	Some states cover sexual orientation and gender identity, some only cover sexual orientation and some do not cover either. See National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Resource Library [6]. Also see Gay rights in the United States for further information.

[edit] Oceania

Country	Laws against homosexuality	Max. Penalty	Min. Penalty	Same-sex Unions	Laws against discrimination	Comments
☆Australia	No	-	-	Same-sex relationship registration (Tasmania only)	Yes	Domestic partnerships in all but South Australia and Victoria. Same-sex marriages banned under federal law. A registration scheme exists in Tasmania giving some rights to same-sex couples. See Gay rights in Australia.
Cook Islands	Male only	14 years	Fine	-	No
☆Fiji	No	-	-	-	Yes	Sodomy law ruled unconstitutional by Fiji High Court on August 26, 2005. Constitution explicitly protects against sexual orientation discrimination. See Gay rights in Fiji.
Guam	No	-	-	-	No
Kiribati	Male only	14 years	Fine	-	No
Marshall Islands	Male only	10 years	Fine	-	No
Micronesia	No	-	-	-	No
Nauru	Unknown	Unknown	Unknown	-	No
New Caledonia	No	-	-	Considered. See Pacte civil de solidarité.	No
☆New Zealand	No	-	-	Civil unions	Yes	See Gay rights in New Zealand.
Niue	Male only	10 years	Fine	-	No
Palau	Male only	10 years	Fine	-	No	-
Papua New Guinea	Male only	14 years	Fine	-	No
Samoa	Yes	7 years	Fine	-	No
Solomon Islands	Yes	14 years	Fine	-	No
Tahiti, French Polynesia	No	-	-	-	No
Tokelau	Male only	10 years	Fine	-	No
Tonga	Male only	10 years	Fine	-	No
Tuvalu	Male only	14 years	Fine	-	No
Vanuatu	No	-	-	-	No

[edit] South America

Country	Laws against homosexuality	Max. Penalty	Min. Penalty	Same-sex Unions	Laws against discrimination	Comments
Argentina	No	-	-	Civil unions in Buenos Aires City and Rio Negro Province.	Yes
Bolivia	No	-	-	-	No
☆Brazil	No	-	-	Civil unions in Rio Grande do Sul.	Yes*	Ant-discriminatroy laws in some cities and states. Other Brazilian areas do not have specific laws to protect LGBT people. See Gay rights in Brazil.
☆Chile	No	-	-	-	Yes	See Gay rights in Chile.
Colombia	No	-	-	-	No
☆Ecuador	No	-	-	-	Yes	Anti-discrimination laws have been in Ecuador's constitution since 1998. See Gay rights in Ecuador.
Falkland Islands	No	-	-	Yes	No
☆French Guiana	No	-	-	Yes. See Pacte civil de solidarité.	Yes	French Law applies. See Gay rights in France.
Guyana	Male only	Life	Life	-	Considered
Paraguay	No	-	-	-	No
Peru	No	-	-	-	Yes
Surinam	No	-	-	-	No
Uruguay	No	-	-	Uruguay to permit same-sex civil unions	Yes
☆Venezuela	No	-	-	No	Yes	The 1999 Organic Labour Law provides protection forLGBT people. See Gay rights in Venezuela.