He LGTBIQ+ collective is in a constant struggle to be accepted around the world or, at least, not to be seen as ‘illegal’. He sthailand enado approved in June 2024 the reform that will allow gay marriage to be legalized. Thanks to this new measure, Thailand will become the first country in Southeast Asia this year to take this historic step in terms of LGTBIQ+ rights.

The law, which technically represents a battery of amendments to the Civil Code, has gone ahead with 130 votes in favor of the 250 seats that make up the Thai Senate. Four senators have voted against and eight have abstained on this reform, despite previously having the approval of their House of Representatives.

The changes eliminate the allusion to man and woman to describe marriage, opting instead for the formula of “two individuals”Meanwhile he legal status will cease to be “husband and wife” to become “married couple”.

In 2022, Singapore announced, after years of protest, the end of law that criminalized relationships between men with sentences of up to two years in prison. The Singaporean Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loongsaid he believes that “it is rightand something that the majority of Singaporeans will accept.” Despite everything, they decided to keep the marriage union only between men and women.

Map of countries where it is illegal to be homosexual

These news show the intolerance that remains, sadly, in the 21st century. This situation raises another question: In which countries is it still a crime to be homosexual? According to the Organization in Defense of Human Rights Human Rights Watch, 67 countries They continue to be a danger zone for people from the LGTBIQ+ group and in nine of them Different gender expressions are also criminalized, so they are also forbidden ground for transgender and gender non-conforming people.

List of countries in which it is illegal to be homosexual and their sentences

  • Afghanistan: death penalty by stoning or crushing, depending Human Dignity Trust
  • Saudi Arabia: according to some interpretations of Sharia law, it is punishable by death. Other sentences are 100 lashes and banishment for one year.
  • Algeria: from two months to two years in prison and a fine of between 500 and 2,000 Algerian dinars (between five and 20 euros)
  • Old and bearded: 15 years in prison for adults and five for minors
  • Bangladesh: ten years to life imprisonment
  • Barbados: life imprisonment
  • Brunei: death penalty for anal sex; 40 lashes for sex between women and three years in prison; fine of 1,000 euros or both for other gender expressions
  • Burundi: Three months to two years in prison and/or a fine of 50,000 to 100,000 francs (30 to 60 euros)
  • Cameroon: Six months to five years in prison and a fine of 20,000 to 200,000 CFA francs (35 to 350 euros)
  • Chad: From three months to two years in prison; fine of 50,000 to 500,000 FCFA (between $87 and $870)
  • Comoros: Two to five years in prison and a fine of 50,000 to 1,000,000 francs (120 to 2,320 euros)
  • Dominica: four to 10 years in prison if committed by an adult and admission to a psychiatric hospital if required by the judge. 5 years for minors
  • Egypt: From three months to three years in prison. He may be admitted to a “special reformatory” once the prison sentence is served. Fine of between 25 LE and 300 LE (3 and 40 euros).
  • United Arab Emirates: no less than six months in prison and can only be judged as a crime if the complaint comes from a guardian, allowing the judge to impose stronger sentences. And up to a year in prison for ‘men’ who dress as women and enter places reserved for women
  • Eritrea: five to seven years in prison
  • Eswatini: no specified sentence and largely unenforced, according to the Human Dignity Trust
  • Ethiopia: up to 15 years in prison
  • Gambia: up to 14 years in prison for relationships between men and 5 for relationships between women. There is also the possibility of life imprisonment for “aggravated homosexuality.”
  • Ghana: up to three years in prison
  • Grenade: ten years in prison
  • Guinea: six months to three years in prison
  • Guyana: two years to life imprisonment
  • Cook Islands: five to seven years in prison
  • Solomon Islands: up to 14 years in prison
  • Iran: from 31 to 100 lashes or death penalty
  • Jamaica: ten years in prison and forced labor
  • Kenya: Five years for “indecent practices between men”, fourteen years for “carnal knowledge against the order of nature”
  • Kiribati: 14 years in prison
  • Kuwait: up to seven years in prison for homosexual acts. In February 2022 they repealed the criminalization of imitating the opposite sex in any way.
  • Lebanon: up to one year in prison
  • Liberia: one year in prison
  • Libya: up to five years in prison
  • Malawi: up to 14 years in prison for men and five years for women. In addition to up to six months in prison for men who wear their hair long past their mouth.
  • Malaysia: up to 20 years in prison, lashes and fines. For different gender expressions, up to three years in prison, fines and mandatory therapy
  • Maldives: six months to eight years in prison and up to 100 lashes
  • Mauritania: death penalty by stoning for men and up to five years in prison for women
  • Mauricio: five years in prison
  • Morocco: six months to three years in prison and fines of between 120 and 1,000 dirhams (10 to 110 euros)
  • Myanmar: up to 20 years in prison and fines
  • Namibia
  • Nigeria: Up to 14 years in prison or death penalty under state Sharia laws
  • Gaza Strip: up to ten years in prison. The penalties are not operative in the rest of the territories, according to the Human Dignity Trust
  • Oman: six months to three years in prison and one month to one year in prison for different gender expressions
  • Pakistan: life sentence or two to ten years in prison and a fine
  • Papua New Guinea: up to seven years in prison
  • Qatar: one to three years in prison, flogging or death penalty under state Sharia laws
  • Saint Kitts and Nevis: four to ten years in prison with or without forced labor
  • St. Lucia: five to ten years in prison
  • St. Vincent and the Grenadines: five to ten years in prison
  • Samoa: up to five years in prison
  • Senegal: from one to five years in prison; fine of 100,000 to 1,500,000 CFA (170 to 2,600 euros).
  • Sierra Leone: ten years to life in prison
  • Somalia: two months to three years in prison and security measures
  • South Sudan: up to ten years in prison and fines. For transgender women prison for up to one year
  • Sri Lanka: up to ten years in prison and fines
  • Sudan: five years in prison for first and second sentences; life sentence for the third
  • Syria: up to three years in prison
  • Tanzania: 30 years to life in prison
  • Togo: One to three years in prison; fine of between 100,000 and 500,000 CFA francs (170 to 870 euros).
  • Tonga: up to ten years in prison or whipping. And for ‘men’ impersonating a woman while soliciting indecent acts a fine not exceeding 100 euros, imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year, or both
  • Tunisia: three years in prison
  • Turkmenistan: two years in prison and five to ten years if you reoffend
  • Tuvalu: up to fourteen years in prison
  • Uganda: life imprisonment
  • Uzbekistan: up to three years in prison
  • Yemen: for single men 100 lashes and one year in prison; death by stoning for married men and for acts between women 100 lashes and up to three years in prison
  • Zambia: seven years to life in prison
  • Zimbabwe: up to one year in prison and/or fine

This list shows how ground is being gained in rights issues for the LGTBIQ+ group, but a single law does not always guarantee the protection of human rights for those people who belong to the group. Countries in which relationships between people of the same gender are not condemned but they are prohibited from being “marriage” officially, others in which homosexuality is decriminalized but transgender people are condemned… Each law passed can have its nuances.

There are still many countries to write laws that protect the LGTBIQ+ community against discrimination effectively.