The countries where being gay is still illegal

Mali is the latest African nation to pass legislation that criminalises homosexuality.

The military junta which has ruled the country since 2021 said the new law, passed at the end of October, would protect "traditional and moral values", but there has been an immediate "jump in arbitrary arrests and detention" of homosexual people, said Human Rights Watch.

Prior to the new legislation, the West African nation did not specifically prohibit same-sex relations, but "often used" the "vague provisions" of a public-indecency penal code to "persecute LGBT people".

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Mali is not the only country to impose anti-homosexuality laws. Burkina Faso, also ruled by military junta, "adopted a draft of an amended family code" that banned homosexuality in July this year, said Reuters. And, last year, identifying as gay in Uganda became "punishable by prison time", upping "the ante" in a country where gay sex was already illegal, said The Washington Post.

There are 64 countries worldwide that still criminalise homosexuality, despite the global trend generally "moving toward more acceptance on LGBT rights". The 32 African countries with anti-LGBTQ laws on their books form a "block of intolerance", said the Post. Here are the countries where homosexuality is still criminalised:

The Americas

• Barbados
• Grenada (male only)
• Guyana (male only)
• Jamaica (male only)
• St Lucia
• St Vincent and the Grenadines

Gay rights are constitutionally enshrined in most of South and North America. However, there are exceptions, mostly in the "conservative Caribbean", said AP.

In recent years, more and more countries in the region have "struck down colonial-era" laws. Barbados, and St Kitts and Nevis repealed their laws in 2022, following similar moves by Belize, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Europe

Most countries in Europe have no laws preventing homosexual activities. But Hungary in 2021 passed a law "banning the portrayal or promotion of homosexuality among under-18s", the BBC said.

Hungary does not recognise same sex marriage, has banned same-sex couples from adopting children and passed a law preventing people from legally changing their gender.

The European Court of Justice in November began hearing a case over Hungary's law, brought by 16 of its 27 member states. They believe the law is "modelled after a similar piece of legislation enacted in Russia" and has already been "declared unlawful by the European Court of Human Rights", said Al Jazeera.

Human Rights Watch has also warned that the so-called "LGBT Ideology Free Zones" or anti-LGBT "Family Charters" in almost 100 Polish regions, towns and cities breach the country’s "legal obligations under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and a European Council directive for equal treatment in employment and occupation".

Africa

• Algeria
• Burundi
• Cameroon
• Chad
• Comoros
• Egypt (de facto)
• Eritrea
• Eswatini (male only)
• Ethiopia
• Gambia
• Ghana
• Guinea
• Kenya (male only)
• Liberia
• Libya
• Malawi
• Mali
• Mauritania
• Mauritius
• Morocco
• Namibia (male only)
• Nigeria
• Senegal
• Sierra Leone (male only)
• Somalia
• South Sudan (male only)
• Sudan
• Tanzania
• Togo (male only)
• Tunisia
• Uganda
• Zambia
• Zimbabwe (male only)

"Across much of Africa, gay people face discrimination, persecution, and potentially even death," Newsweek said. Homosexuality carries a sentence of capital punishment in Mauritania, Sudan, southern Somalia and northern Nigeria.

Amnesty International has warned that "legal rights are diminishing for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people across the African continent".

Asia and the Middle East

• Afghanistan
• Bangladesh (male only)
• Brunei (male only)
• Indonesia (in some areas)
• Iran
• Iraq (de facto)
• Kuwait (male only)
• Lebanon (male only)
• Malaysia
• Maldives
• Myanmar (male only)
• Oman
• Pakistan (male only)
• Qatar
• Saudi Arabia
• Sri Lanka
• Syria
• Turkmenistan (male only)
• United Arab Emirates
• Uzbekistan (male only)
• Yemen

In the overwhelmingly Islamic Middle East, it is quicker to highlight the countries that do not currently have anti-gay laws than those that do. In several nations, same-sex relations are punishable by death.

Bahrain, Israel and Jordan are the only countries in the region that do not outlaw homosexuality. Even in these countries, police protections offered to sexual minorities are minimal and vigilante justice often prevails.

Asia has a mixed record on gay rights. Many countries on the continent have never passed any form of anti-gay legislation, including Cambodia, South Korea, Taiwan, Laos and the Philippines. Japan decriminalised homosexuality almost 140 years ago.

Oceania

• Kiribati (male only)
• Papua New Guinea (male only)
• Samoa (male only)
• Solomon Islands
• Tonga (male only)
• Tuvalu (male only)

Oceania is a continent of sharp contrasts when it comes to anti-LGBT laws. Six of the 14 countries of the continent have passed anti-gay legislation. Kiribati and the Solomon Islands are the harshest enforcers of these laws, with sentences of up to 14 years for homosexual acts.

The Cook Islands repealed its anti-gay laws in 2023, having "rarely, if ever" enforced them, said Reuters.