LGBTQ rights in Gibraltar | |
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![]() Location of Gibraltar (dark green) – in Europe (light green & dark grey) Contents | |
Status | Legal since 1993, age of consent equal since 2012 |
Gender identity | Transgender persons not allowed to change legal gender |
Military | LGBT people allowed to serve openly |
Discrimination protections | Protections for sexual orientation and "gender reassignment" since 2007 |
Family rights | |
Recognition of relationships | Civil partnerships since 2014; Same-sex marriage since 2016 |
Adoption | Same-sex couples allowed to adopt since 2014 |
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Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights within the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar have evolved significantly in the past decades. Same-sex sexual activity has been legal since 1993 and the age of consent was equalised to 16 in 2012. The Supreme Court of Gibraltar ruled in April 2013 that same-sex couples have the right to adopt. Civil partnerships have been available to both same-sex and opposite-sex couples since March 2014, and in October 2016, Gibraltar voted to legalise same-sex marriage with the Civil Marriage Amendment Act 2016 passing unanimously in Parliament. [1] The law received royal assent on 1 November and took effect on 15 December 2016. [2] [3]
In Gibraltar, the age of consent for all sexual activity regardless of sexuality and/or gender was equalised at 16 in April 2011, when under Supreme Court order the previous law – under which the age of consent for gay males was 18 – was found to be unconstitutional. Heterosexual anal sex was decriminalised at the same time and the age of consent set at 16. [4] Gay male sexual conduct was decriminalised in 1993.
Political campaigning prior to the 2007 elections was prominent with equality rights organisation Gib Gay Rights (GGR), [5] headed by human rights campaigner Felix Alvarez, openly challenging the incumbent Chief Minister, Peter Caruana, for more rights in Gibraltar for gay and lesbian people. [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Campaigning on the issue of an equal age of consent of 16 had been strongly undertaken. [11] [12] [13] The issues were raised at the Foreign Affairs Committee enquiry into the overseas territories in 2008, where they concluded:
On 18 May 2009, the Gibraltar Parliament rejected a private member's bill, proposed by the Minister for Justice, to equalise the age of consent. It was opposed by the GSLP/Liberal opposition for technical reasons due to the way the bill was written. Government MPs were given a free vote on the bill. It was defeated, as government MPs were split on its approval, and the opposition members all voted against it.
The influential Gibraltar Women's Association (GWA) also called for the age consent to be levelled at 18. [15]
On 1 October 2009, new proposed legislation would enable the Government of Gibraltar to ask the Supreme Court to test whether existing or draft laws are compatible with the Constitution. This would provide a simplified, purpose-built mechanism to deal with contentious issues such as the age of consent. [16] In March 2010, it sought an opinion from the Court to see if the unequal age of consent was discrimination under the principles of the European Council. [17] [18]
On 1 April 2010, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs David Miliband pointed out that if a British Overseas Territory is unwilling to meet "international obligations" such as equalising the age of consent it may be imposed by an Order in Council. [19] [20] [21] [22]
On 8 April 2011, the Supreme Court of Gibraltar ruled that a higher age of consent of 18 for gay sex was unconstitutional, and thus mandated an equal age of consent of 16, while at the same time also decriminalising heterosexual anal sex. [4]
In August 2011, the gender-neutral Crimes Act 2011 was approved, which sets an equal age of consent of 16 regardless of sexual orientation, and reflects the recent Supreme Court decision in statute law. [23] The law took effect on 23 November 2012. [24]
In March 2014, the Parliament passed a civil partnership law, granting same-sex couples most of the rights of marriage, including allowing the adoption of children by civil partners, as mandated by the court ruling in 2013. [25] [26] [27] [28] [29]
Same-sex marriage became an issue of interest for the government after its re-election in 2015. A command paper to that effect was published in December 2015 and a public consultation was held, whilst talk of a possible referendum on the issue was not ruled out. [30] [31] The leader of the opposition Social Democrats Party announced his support for same-sex marriage in January 2016, [32] [33] days before the government ruled out a referendum. [34] An inter-ministerial committee was set up in March 2016 to listen to stakeholder concerns and more than 3,400 responses to the discussion were received. [35] [36] The government published a bill to legalise same-sex marriage in August 2016. [37] [38] [39]
On 26 October 2016, the Civil Marriage Amendment Act 2016 was passed in the Gibraltar Parliament with unanimous support from all 15 members present during the vote. [40] The bill received royal assent on 1 November and took effect on 15 December 2016. [2] [3] The first legally recognized same-sex marriage in Gibraltar took place the next day. [41]
On 10 April 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that section 5 (2) of the Adoption Act 1951 was in violation of the Gibraltar Constitution thus, in effect, de jure legalising LGBT adoption in Gibraltar. The government announced that they planned to amend the law as soon as possible and that the Care Agency would take appropriate measures to allow same-sex couples to adopt. [42] [43] The government did so the following year as part of its civil partnership law (see above). Effective since 18 April 2024, the newly passed and implemented “Adoption Act 2023” went into full effect - explicitly allowing same-sex couples to adopt children without discrimination. [44]
In June 2017, the Gibraltar Health Authority approved an amendment to its in vitro fertilisation policy to allow lesbian couples to access assisted reproductive technology. [45] [46]
In February 2021, Gibraltar implemented a surrogacy law, allowing individuals and couples, married or in a civil partnership, unable to conceive, to engage in non-commercial, altruistic surrogacy. The legislation also provides automatic recognition to children of same-sex couples conceived through artificial insemination. [47]
The 2006 Constitution does not mention sexual orientation. Proposals, made public in early March 2002, specifically omitted direct reference to "sexual orientation" as a category to be constitutionally protected. Other categories are clearly included. [48]
The Equal Opportunities Act 2006, which came into force on 1 March 2007, prohibits discrimination in areas such as employment and the provision of goods and services on numerous grounds, including sexual orientation and "gender reassignment". [49] "Sexual orientation" is defined as a "sexual orientation towards persons of the same sex, persons of the opposite sex, or persons of the same sex and of the opposite sex". "Gender reassignment" is defined as "a process for the purpose of reassigning a person's sex by changing physiological or other attributes of sex".
A bill to amend the Crimes Act 2011, that would criminalise both hatred and harassment on the ground of sexual orientation as a hate crime, was approved by the Gibraltar Parliament on 19 September 2013 and given royal assent on 25 September. The law took effect on 10 October 2013. [24] [50]
In July 2021, the Gibraltar Justice Ministry is investigating a proposal for introducing new laws "tackling lurking homophobia". The move was revealed in Parliament by Chief Minister Fabian Picardo and comes against the backdrop of “disgusting lurking homophobia” on social media as a result of initiatives and events to mark Pride month earlier this year. “The Government will not accept the continued homophobia we are seeing,” Mr Picardo said. “The Government will therefore monitor whether it may be necessary to further bolster our legislation to make it a specific criminal offence to denigrate a person as a result of their sexual orientation.” [51]
Same-sex sexual activity legal | ![]() |
Equal age of consent | ![]() |
Anti-discrimination laws in employment | ![]() |
Anti-discrimination laws in the provision of goods and services | ![]() |
Anti-discrimination laws in all other areas (incl. indirect discrimination, hate speech) | ![]() |
Same-sex marriage(s) | ![]() |
Recognition of same-sex couples (civil partnership) | ![]() |
Joint and step-child adoption by same-sex couples recognised | ![]() |
LGBT people allowed to serve in the military | ![]() |
Right to change legal gender | ![]() |
Access to IVF for lesbian couples | ![]() |
Altruistic surrogacy for gay male couples | ![]() |
MSMs allowed to donate blood | ![]() |
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in the Republic of Ireland are regarded as some of the most progressive in Europe and the world. Ireland is notable for its transformation from a country holding overwhelmingly conservative attitudes toward LGBTQ issues, in part due to the opposition by the Roman Catholic Church, to one holding overwhelmingly liberal views in the space of a generation. In May 2015, Ireland became the first country to legalise same-sex marriage on a national level by popular vote. The New York Times declared that the result put Ireland at the "vanguard of social change". Since July 2015, transgender people in Ireland can self-declare their gender for the purpose of updating passports, driving licences, obtaining new birth certificates, and getting married. Both male and female expressions of homosexuality were decriminalised in 1993, and most forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation are now outlawed. Ireland also forbids incitement to hatred based on sexual orientation. Article 41 of the Constitution of Ireland explicitly protects the right to marriage irrespective of sex.
The rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland have developed significantly over time. Today, lesbian, gay and bisexual rights are considered to be advanced by international standards.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Iceland rank among the highest in the world. Icelandic culture is generally tolerant towards homosexuality and transgender individuals, and Reykjavík has a visible LGBT community. Iceland ranked first on the Equaldex Equality Index in 2023, and second after Malta according to ILGA-Europe's 2024 LGBT rights ranking, indicating it is one of the safest nations for LGBT people in Europe. Conversion therapy in Iceland has been illegal since 2023.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Australia rank among the highest in the world; having significantly advanced over the latter half of the 20th century and early 21st century. Opinion polls and the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey indicate widespread popular support for same-sex marriage within the nation. Australia in 2018, in fact was the last of the Five Eyes set of countries - that consisted of namely Canada (2005), New Zealand (2013), United Kingdom (2014) and the United States (2015) to legalize same-sex marriage. A 2013 Pew Research poll found that 79% of Australians agreed that homosexuality should be accepted by society, making it the fifth-most supportive country surveyed in the world. With its long history of LGBTQ activism and annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras festival, Sydney has been named one of the most gay-friendly cities in the world.
Danish lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights are some of the most extensive in the world. In 2023, ILGA-Europe ranked Denmark as the third most LGBTQ-supportive country in Europe. Polls consistently show that same-sex marriage support is nearly universal amongst the Danish population.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Malta rank among the highest in the world. Throughout the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the rights of the LGBTQ community received more awareness and same-sex sexual activity was legalized on 29 January 1973. The prohibition was already dormant by the 1890s.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in the British Crown dependency of the Isle of Man have evolved substantially since the early 2000s. Private and consensual acts of male homosexuality on the island were decriminalised in 1992. LGBTQ rights have been extended and recognised in law since then, such as an equal age of consent (2006), employment protection from discrimination (2006), gender identity recognition (2009), the right to enter into a civil partnership (2011), the right to adopt children (2011) and the right to enter into a civil marriage (2016).
The rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in Aruba, a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, have evolved remarkably in the past decades. Both male and female forms of same-sex sexual activity are legal in Aruba.
Felix Alvarez OBE is a Gibraltarian human, civil rights, democracy and LGBT activist.
This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the year 2008.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Kosovo have improved in recent years, most notably with the adoption of the new Constitution, banning discrimination based on sexual orientation. Kosovo remains one of the few Muslim-majority countries that hold regular pride parades.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Greenland are some of the most extensive in the Americas and the world, relatively similar to those in Denmark proper in Europe. Same-sex sexual activity is legal, with an equal age of consent, and there are some anti-discrimination laws protecting LGBT people. Same-sex couples had access to registered partnerships, which provided them with nearly all of the rights provided to married opposite-sex couples, from 1996 to 2016. On 1 April 2016, a law repealing the registered partnership act and allowing for same-sex marriages to be performed came into effect.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Scotland are generally in line with the rest of the United Kingdom, which have evolved extensively over time and are now regarded as some of the most progressive in Europe. In both 2015 and 2016, Scotland was recognised as the "best country in Europe for LGBTI legal equality".
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Bermuda, a British Overseas Territory, face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Homosexuality is legal in Bermuda, but the territory has long held a reputation for being homophobic and intolerant. Since 2013, the Human Rights Act has prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) people in Hong Kong may face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Queensland have advanced significantly from the late 20th century onwards, in line with progress on LGBTQ rights in Australia nationally. 2019 polling on gay rights consistently showed that even in regional areas, Queensland is no more conservative about the subject than any other states.
The rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the Australian state of South Australia are advanced and well-established. South Australia has had a chequered history with respect to the rights of LGBT people. Initially, the state was a national pioneer of LGBT rights in Australia, being the first in the country to decriminalise homosexuality and to introduce a non-discriminatory age of consent for all sexual activity. Subsequently, the state fell behind other Australian jurisdictions in areas including relationship recognition and parenting, with the most recent law reforms regarding the recognition of same-sex relationships, LGBT adoption and strengthened anti-discrimination laws passing in 2016 and going into effect in 2017.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) rights in the British Crown dependency of Jersey have evolved significantly since the early 1990s. Same-sex sexual activity was decriminalised in 1990. Since then, LGBTQ people have been given many more rights equal to that of heterosexuals, such as an equal age of consent (2006), the right to change legal gender for transgender people (2010), the right to enter into civil partnerships (2012), the right to adopt children (2012) and very broad anti-discrimination and legal protections on the basis of "sexual orientation, gender reassignment and intersex status" (2015). Jersey is the only British territory that explicitly includes "intersex status" within anti-discrimination laws. Same-sex marriage has been legal in Jersey since 1 July 2018.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Gibraltar since 15 December 2016. A bill for the legalisation of same-sex marriages was approved by the Parliament on 26 October 2016 and received royal assent on 1 November 2016. Gibraltar has also allowed civil partnerships since 28 March 2014.
Lesbianism in Gibraltar became legal in 1992.