Homosexuality Is Still Illegal in These 67 U.N. Countries
Supreme Court ruled the ban to be "irrational, indefensible and manifestly arbitrary."But in both India and Singapore, the abolition of these laws didn't translate into a complete backing of LGBTQ+ rights, as same-sex marriage remains illegal in both countries."Let me reassure everyone that in handling the issue, the government will continue to uphold families as the basic building blocks of society," Singapore's prime minister said on Sunday. "We will keep our policies on family and marriage unchanged and maintain the prevailing norms and social values of our society."Despite increased acceptance in the past two decades of LGBTQ+ rights around the world, there have also been backlashes and setbacks in many countries—and in 67 nations part of the United Nations, homosexuality is still persecuted as a crime.A map produced by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersexual Association (ILGA) in 2020, seen above, shows the countries where homosexuality is still criminalized.Since the report was published, Bhutan and Antigua and Barbuda decriminalized consensual same-sex sexual relations between adults, respectively, in 2021 and 2022.Nearly half of the countries where homosexuality is still criminalized are in Africa.
These are the 67 U.N. countries with laws that prohibit same-sex relations (65 by explicit provisions of law, 2 de facto):In these countries, the punishment for those having consensual same-sex relations ranges from a minimum of two years in prison to a life sentence (in countries including Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia in Africa and Barbados and Guyana in the Caribbean).In six of the U.N.
