Lgbtq rights around the world

lgbtq rights around the world

LGBT Equality Index

Equality Index Methodology

Equaldex's Equality Index is a rating from 0 to 100 (with 100 creature the most equal) to help visualize the legal rights and public attitudes towards LGBTQ+ (lesbian, same-sex attracted, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex...) people in each region. The Equality Index is an average of two indexes: the legal index and the general opinion Index.

Equality Index

Average of Legal Index and Public Opinion Index

Legal Index

The LGBT legal index measures the current legal status of 13 different issues ranging from the legal status of homosexuality, same-sex marriage, transgender rights, LGBT discrimination protections, LGBT censorship laws, and more. Each topic is weighted differently (for example, if same-sex marriage is illegal in a region, it would possess a much bigger impact on the score than not allowing LGBT people to serve in the military). Each topic is assigned a "total doable score" and a "score" is assigned based the status of the regulation using a rating scale that ranges from 0% to 100% (for example, if homosexuality is legal, it would would get a score of 100, but if it's illegal, it would receve a score of 0.)



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 Earth 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 diverse gender or the alike 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 & utterance, and sex characteristics. More) issues globally.

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

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Criminalisation:

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

Maximum punishment:

Death penalty

More info

Criminalisation:

  • Criminalises LGBT people
  • Criminalises sexual activity between males

Maximum punishment:

Life imprisonment

More info

Criminalisation:

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

Maximum punishment:

Death by stoning

More info

Criminalisation:

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

Maximum punishment:

Eight years imprisonment and 100 lashes

More info

Criminalisation:

  • Criminalises LGBT people
  • Criminalises sexual activity

    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 male lover 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 watching 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

    ILGA World and GPP invite civil society, philanthropy and donor governments representatives to submit expressions of interest to join the regional expert groups for the LGBTI Pathways Project. Apply by Monday, 18 August, 23:59 CEST!

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    From the grassroots to the international stages, throughout 2024 we continued to support our LGBTI communities worldwide, navigating together a hour when reactionary forces continue to assault social justice movements and erode decades of progress

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    Civil society organisations communicate concerns about acts of intimidation, reprisal and retaliation against Special Procedures, which constitute “a drastic hindrance to multilateralism and international justice”

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    of more than 2,000 member organisations from 170 countries campaigning for the human rights of lesbian, gay, multi-attracted , trans, and intersex people. Since 1978.

    Since 1978, we own been committed to equal human rights for rainbow communities and their liberation from all forms of discrimination.

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    We support LGBTI civil society worldwide through advocacy and research projects, and give grassroots movemen