Lgbtq rights in the world

Criminalisation:

• Criminalises LGBT people
• Criminalises sexual activity between males
• Criminalises sexual activity between females
• Imposes the death penalty

Maximum punishment:

Death penalty

Criminalisation:

• Criminalises LGBT people
• Criminalises sexual activity between males

Maximum punishment:

Life imprisonment

Criminalisation:

• Criminalises LGBT people
• Criminalises sexual activity between males
• Criminalises sexual task between females
• Criminalises the gender expression of trans people
• Imposes the death penalty

Maximum punishment:

Death by stoning

Criminalisation:

• Criminalises LGBT people
• Criminalises sexual activity between males
• Criminalises sexual activity between females
• Criminalises the gender expression of gender non-conforming people
• Maintains discriminatory age of consent

Maximum punishment:

Eight years imprisonment and 100 lashes

Criminalisation:

• Criminalises LGBT people
• Criminalises sexual activity
  

  In Focus: Global LGBTQ Rights

  Overview
  In the U.S., advocates often use the acronym LGBTQ to describe the community. Internationally it is more common to observe the inclusion of intersex people by the utilize of LGBTQI or LGBTI. All of these acronyms are acceptable to employ, though U.S. audiences may not be familiar with the I being included in the acronym.

  Laws and attitudes relating to LGBTQ people vary drastically around the world. Laws criminalizing LGBTQ people change frequently, so it is vital to check the status of anti-LGBTQ laws when reporting in a particular country or context. 

  It is important to note that diverse sexual orientations and gender identities have existed in global cultures throughout history. Still, the principle of LGBTQ is recent and can be seen as a largely Western phenomenon. Reporting should obtain into account the historic, cultural, and indigenous kind of sexual orientation and gender identity that may inform stories about legal or social acceptance in different cultures.

  Safety
  Since it is ruled a crime to be LGBTQ in dozens of countries around the world, and some countries continue to own largely negative attitudes about LGBTQ pe

  Rainbow Map

  2025 rainbow map

  These are the main findings for the 2025 edition of the rainbow map

  The Rainbow Map ranks 49 European countries on their respective legal and policy practices for LGBTI people, from 0-100%.

  The UK has dropped six places in ILGA-Europe’s Rainbow Chart, as Hungary and Georgia also register steep falls obeying anti-LGBTI legislation. The data highlights how rollbacks on LGBTI human rights are part of a broader erosion of democratic protections across Europe. Read more in our urge release.

  “Moves in the UK, Hungary, Georgia and beyond signal not just isolated regressions, but a coordinated global backlash aimed at erasing LGBTI rights, cynically framed as the defence of tradition or public stability, but in actual world designed to entrench discrimination and suppress dissent.”

  • Katrin Hugendubel, Support Director, ILGA-Europe

  
  Malta has sat on foremost of the ranking for the last 10 years. 

  With 85 points, Belgium jumped to second place after adopting policies tackling hatred based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics. 

  Iceland now comes third place on the ranking with a score of 84.

  The three
  

  ILGA World maps are among the most shared visual representations of how LGBTIQ people are affected by laws and policies around the world.

  The scope of our long-standing rights mapping has expanded thanks to the ILGA Nature Database. With that platform, ILGA maps have become interactive and constantly updated, to better cover sexual orientationrefers to a person’s capacity for profound emotional, affectional and sexual attraction to - and intimate and sexual relations with - individuals of a unlike gender or the matching 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 (SOGIESCabbreviation standing for sexual orientation and gender identity & phrase, and sex characteristics. More) issues globally.

  Our LGBTIQ rights maps cover more than 100 topics, as well as how SOGIESCabbrev
  
  

  What’s the context?

  Pending laws, court cases and policy decisions in several countries will protect some LGBTQ+ individuals and restrict others

  LONDON - After a year that saw both major gains and a spate of setbacks for rights, 2025 is set to be another mixed year for LGBTQ+ people, with some countries achieving marriage equality and others criminalising diverse sexualities and genders. 

  Last year progress was made through marriage equality in Greece and Thailand, the decriminalisation of lgbtq+ sex in Namibia and Dominica and self-identification laws in Germany and Ecuador, which ease the process of changing legal gender.

  However, other countries experienced considerable setbacks, with anti-LGBTQ+ legislation passing in Ghana, Mali, Georgia and Bulgaria.

  A grim threshold was crossed in 2024, when the number of trans and gender-diverse people who have been murdered surpassed 5,000 for the first time since a rights group began following such cases in 2008.

  In the United States, more than 570 bills targeting the LGBTQ+ community were tracked by rights groups.

  Here are the key things to look out for in 2025.

  Liechtenstein's