Laws on Us: new global report maps relentless opposition and progress on LGBTI people’s human rights
Summary
- Ahead of Pride Month, ILGA World launches its new flagship Laws on Us report, documenting legal developments affecting LGBTI people in 193 UN member States and more jurisdictions between January 2023 and April 2024
- One-third of the world (32%) continues to criminalise consensual same-sex sexual acts. Some progress is happening on legal gender recognitionlaws, administrative procedures or processes by which a person can change their sex/gender marker and names on official identity documents. More and the protection of intersexan umbrella term for the spectrum of variations of sex characteristics that naturally occur within the human species. Intersex people are born with variations of sex characteristics (such as genitals, reproductive organs, hormonal and chromosomal patterns) that are more diverse than stereotypical definitions of male or female bodies. Up to 1.7% of the global population are born with such traits; yet, because their bodies are seen as different, intersex children and adults are often stigmatised and subject to harmful practices – including in medical settings - and discriminated against. More minors
- Alarming rise in restrictions on freedom of expression and association on sexual orientationrefers to a person’s capacity for profound emotional, affectional and sexual attraction to - and intimate and sexual relations with - individuals of a different gender or the same gender or more than one gender. More, gender identityrefers to a person’s deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex assigned at birth. More and expression, and sex characteristicsa term that refers to physical features relating to sex - including genitalia and other sexual and reproductive anatomy, chromosomes, hormones, and secondary physical features emerging from puberty. More issues
- Despite the increasing number of laws and regulations aimed at bolstering legal protections, stark opposition has been a recurring theme in legal debates in every UN member State
Geneva, 30 May 2024 – Relentless opposition is marring progress made towards equal rights for LGBTI people, ILGA World said today, as lesbianadjective/noun to describe a woman whose enduring physical, romantic, and/or emotional attraction is to other women. Women and non-binary people may use this term to describe themselves. More, gayadjective to describe people whose enduring physical, romantic, and/ or emotional
attractions are to people of the same gender. Men, women and non-binary people may use this
term to describe themselves. More, bisexualadjective used to describe a person who has the capacity to form enduring physical, romantic, and/ or emotional attractions to those of the same gender or to those of other genders. More, transadjective/umbrella term to describe a person whose gender identity does not match the sex they were assigned at birth. More, and intersex lives continue to be at the centre of legal debates across the world.
Published ahead of Pride Month, ILGA World’s new flagship publication Laws on Us documents the intense amount of legal developments that affected communities based on their sexual orientation, genderrefers to a social construct which places cultural and social expectations on individuals based on their assigned sex. More identity, gender expressionrefers to how a person presents their gender through physical appearance – including dress, hairstyles, accessories, cosmetics – and mannerisms, speech, behavioural patterns, names and personal references. More, and sexrefers to the classification of a person as male, female, or other - usually made at birth, written on a birth certificate, and usually based on the appearance of their external anatomy. A person’s sex, however, is actually a combination of bodily characteristics, including chromosomes, hormones, internal and external reproductive organs, and secondary sex characteristics. More characteristics between January 2023 and April 2024 in all 193 UN member States, several non-UN member entities, and numerous subnational jurisdictions.
Download the report in English | in Spanish
“Our communities celebrated important victories during the past two years. And yet, resistance and detraction have materialised almost everywhere.”
Lucas Ramón Mendos, Research manager at ILGA World and “Laws on Us”’ lead co-author
Laws on Us: regressive regional developments
To date, one-third of the world continues to criminalise consensual same-sex sexual acts: 60 UN member States by law, and 2 more de facto. Although three UN member States (Singapore, Mauritius, and Dominica) and one non-UN member (Cook Islands) have decriminalised since the beginning of 2023, regressive, regional developments have been emerging. During the same period, Uganda imposed the death penalty for some forms of consensual same-sex sexual acts, and Iraq codified the criminalisation that existed de facto. Reports surfaced of extreme forms of capital punishment actively enforced in Afghanistan and Yemen. Regressive bills were announced in at least five UN member States, and discussions to criminalise or aggravate penalties took place in four more.
Laws on Us: positive advances in many parts of the world
Alongside these reversals, we are also witnessing positive advances in many parts of the world. Seventeen States now allow people to see their gender reflected in their documents based on self-identification at the national level. Despite the escalating anti-gender movement and the setbacks seen in many jurisdictions, since January 2023 five more UN member States have adopted legal gender recognition based on the principle of self-identification: Ecuador, Finland, Germany, New Zealand, and Spain—along with the state of Yucatán in Mexico. Challenges to surgical requirements have succeeded within diverse court systems, particularly in East Asia.
Nine UN member States now have nationwide protections from unnecessary, non-consensual interventions on intersex minors, with Chile, Spain, and jurisdictions like the Australian Capital Territory and the Balearic Islands joining the list since the beginning of 2023. However, during the same period, Russia and several US states regressed with laws that ban gender-affirming care and promote interventions on intersex minors at the same time.
In a worrying development, laws regulating speech, or restricting organisations’ spaces to advocate the rights of entire communities have become increasingly prominent mechanisms for criminalisation.
“We have seen an alarming rise in restrictions on freedom of expression and association. This has resulted in censorship, arrests, and persecution in many UN member States”
Dhia Rezki Rohaizad, “Laws on Us” lead co-author Dhia Rezki Rohaizad
Over the past 16 months, for example, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan and Uganda have formally implemented legal provisions targeting the so-called “promotion” of “homosexuality”. Belarus has begun to classify content related to sexual and gender diversity as “pornography”, and Russia designated the “international LGBT movement” as “extremist”.
“In 2024, half of the global population will head to the election polls, and States are trying to restrict the civic space for non-governmental organisations – in particular those addressing sexual and gender diversity. Even talking about our lives in public is becoming increasingly difficult in a growing number of states. This trend is extremely concerning: history has shown us multiple times that the advances our movements have made worldwide are often just an election or a downturn away from being reversed.”
Julia Ehrt, Executive Director at ILGA World
The tension between actual or potential progress and acute setbacks is visible also in other legislative areas. While the number of UN member States enacting regulations against “conversion therapies” continued to grow, State-sponsored “rehabilitation” made inroads in Africa and advanced as official policy in Malaysia.
Progress in enacting new anti-discrimination legislation remained limited, but multiple bills await legislative approval in several countries. The same is true for hate crimeoffences that are motivated by hate or bias against a particular group of people. This could be based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, or sex characteristics amongst others. More legislation inclusive of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics, and for provisions sanctioning incitement to hatred, violence, and discriminationunequal or unfair treatment which can be based on a range of grounds - such as age, ethnic background, disability, and diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions or sex characteristics, amongst others. More on the same grounds.
When it comes to the recognition of same-sex couples, during the past sixteen months four UN member States (Andorra, Estonia, Greece, and Slovenia) made marriage equalitywhere national marriage legislation also includes same-sex couples or gender-neutral reference to the spouses. References to “gay marriage” that are sometimes made by media outlets and decision-makers incorrectly are incorrect, as no country has created a marriage law specifically for same-sex couples. More a reality, and Nepal issued an interim order to facilitate such unions. Bolivia and Latvia legalised same-sex civil unions, and Japan has seen several prefectures follow suit.
Overall, ILGA World’s Laws on Us paints the complex picture of an uphill journey towards progress for LGBTI people globally.
“Our research continues to document legal landscapes, facilitate access to information, and empower everyone committed to working together to advance equality worldwide. Every day, the lives of LGBTI people are used as wedge issues to distract, mobilise, and divide. In concerning times like these, it is paramount to have reliable evidence on the laws worldwide affecting our communities and a clear understanding of the challenges that lie ahead and around us.”
Luz Elena Aranda and Tuisina Ymania Brown, ILGA World co-Secretaries General
Key figures (as of 30 April 2024)
Access thematic maps and information on the ILGA World Database
Criminalisation
- 62 UN member States criminalise consensual same-sex relations: 60 of them criminalise de jure (laws criminalising consensual same-sex sexual acts); 2 criminalise de facto (in practice, relying on other laws)
- The death penalty is the legally prescribed penalty for consensual same-sex sexual acts in 7 UN member States: Brunei, Mauritania, Iran, Nigeria (12 provinces), Saudi Arabia, Uganda, and Yemen. In 5 more (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Qatar, Somalia, and the United Arab Emirates), there is no full legal certainty
Freedom of expression and freedom of association
- At least 59 UN member States have laws, rules, and regulations that outlaw forms of expression related to sexual and gender diversity issues. In at least 19 of them, laws are specifically designed to apply to education, and in 30 they specifically regulate content disseminated through media
- At least 59 UN member States present legal barriers to registering and operating organisations openly advocating the rights of LGBTI people
Protection against discrimination in employment
UN member States with provisions that explicitly protect people from discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression or sex characteristics in employment
- based on sexual orientation: 77
- based on gender identity: 46
- based on gender expression: 20
- based on sex characteristics: 18
‘Conversion therapies’
16 UN member States have nationwide bans on ‘conversion therapies’. In addition, 7 have indirect regulations, and 6 have subnational bans only
Marriage and adoption
- Marriage equality is a reality in 35 UN member States and Taiwan
- Same-sex couples can adopt a child together in 36 UN member States. A person in a same-sex couple can adopt the child of their partner in 37 UN member States
Restrictions on interventions on intersex minors
9 UN member States ban non-vital medical interventions on intersex children; 2 have enacted restrictions at the sub-national level
Legal gender recognition
- 17 UN member States allow legal gender recognition based on self-determination at the national level
- Non-binarya person who does not identify exclusively as a man or a woman. While many also identify as trans, not all non-binary people do. Non-binary can also be used as an umbrella term encompassing identities such as agender, bigender, genderqueer or gender-fluid. More gender markers in identity documents are available in up to 18 UN member States.
