A sodomy law is a law that defines certain sexual acts as crimes. The precise sexual acts meant by the term sodomy are rarely spelled out in the law, but are typically understood and defined by many courts and jurisdictions to include any or all forms of sexual acts that are illegal, illicit, unlawful, unnatural, or immoral.[1] Sodomy typically includes anal sex, oral sex, manual sex, and bestiality.[2][3][4][5] In practice, sodomy laws have rarely been enforced to target against sexual activities between individuals of the opposite sex, and have mostly been used to target against sexual activities between individuals of the same sex.[6]
The Middle AssyrianLaw Codes (1075 BCE) state: If a man has intercourse with his brother-in-arms, they shall turn him into a eunuch. This is the earliest known law condemning the act of male-to-male intercourse in the military.[12]
In the Roman Republic, the Lex Scantinia (which is first described in documents dating back to 50 BCE) imposed penalties on those who committed a sex crime (stuprum) against a freeborn male minor. The law may also have been used to prosecute male citizens who willingly played the passive role in same-sex acts.[13][14]:86,224[15]:63,67–68[16] The law was mentioned in literary sources but enforced infrequently; Domitian revived it during his program of judicial and moral reform.[17] It is unclear whether the penalty was death or a fine. For adult male citizens to experience and act on homoerotic desire was considered permissible, as long as their partner was a male of lower social standing.[14]:225[18]
CE
Intolerance of same-sex acts appears to have intensified in the Roman Empire in the late 4th century; in 390 the emperor Theodosius ordered that male prostitutes were to be publicly burned, although it is uncertain to what extent this decree was actually carried out.[19]
Starting in the 1200s, the Roman Catholic Church launched a campaign against homosexual activity.[15] Between the years 1250 and 1300, homosexual activity was criminalized in most of Europe, possibly even punishable by death.[15]:293
In France, the Penal Code of 1791 decriminalized sodomy; this was followed by the Napoleon Penal Code in 1810, which decriminalized sodomy in the part of continental Europe that had been conquered by France, which was most of it.[22]
In 1830, Emperor Pedro I of Brazil signed a law into the Imperial Penal Code, eliminating all references to sodomy.[23]
During the Ottoman Empire, homosexuality was decriminalized in 1858 as part of wider reforms during the Tanzimat period.[24][25]
The death penalty for sodomy was not lifted in England and Wales until 1861.[26][27]
During the First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–1938), there was a movement to repeal sodomy laws. It has been claimed that this was the first campaign to repeal anti-gay laws that was spearheaded primarily by heterosexuals.[31]
Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003), is a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that U.S. state laws criminalizing sodomy between consenting adults are unconstitutional.[b][32][33] At the time of the Lawrence decision, ten states—Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Michigan, Utah, and Virginia—still banned consensual sodomy without respect to the sex of those involved, and four—Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri (partially)—prohibited same-sex couples from engaging in anal and oral sex.[34]
Criminalization in modern days
As of 2025, sodomy-related laws have been repealed or judicially struck down in all of Europe, North America, and South America, except for Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.[35][36][37][38]
In Africa, male homosexual acts remain punishable by death in Mauritania and some parts of Nigeria and Somalia. Male and sometimes female homosexual acts are minor to major criminal offences in many other African countries; for example, life imprisonment is a prospective penalty in Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.[7] A notable exception is South Africa,[39] where same-sex marriage is legal.[40]
On 5 July 2022, the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court ruled that sections of the Penal Code that made consensual same-sex intimacy illegal in Antigua and Barbuda were unconstitutional, and therefore void.[47]
Upon colonisation in 1788, Australia inherited laws from the United Kingdom including the Buggery Act 1533. These were retained in the criminal codes passed by the various colonial parliaments during the 19th century, and by the state parliaments after Federation.[50]
Same-sex relationships between consenting adults became legal in the Bahamas in 1991. However, the criminal code still requires a higher age of consent for homosexual acts. The legal age of consent to engage in sexual activity is 16 for straight couples and 18 for same-sex couples.[59]
Homosexuality was decriminalized in Bahrain in 1976.[60][61][62]
However, although no law explicitly criminalizes same-sex sex, authorities have used broadly-phrased penal code provisions against "indecency" and "immorality" or "debauchery" (Arabic: فجور, romanized:fujoor) to target people who have it.[63][64][65]
Before the December 2022 ruling by the Barbados High Court that struck down buggery and gross indecency laws in Barbados,[66] same-sex and different-sex anal and oral sex were criminalised in Barbados under Chapter 154, Sections 9 and 12 of the Sexual Offences Act. Section 9 criminalised "buggery," regardless of whether the act was done in private and consensual, or whether it was done between two men or a man and a woman. Section 12 criminalised "serious indecency," which was defined as any act "involving the use of the genital organs for the purpose of arousing or gratifying sexual desire." Punishment for "buggery" was life imprisonment, while the maximum penalty for "serious indecency" was ten years in prison if the act was committed on or towards a person aged 16 or older.[67]
Bosnia and Herzegovina is a federation consisting of two entities, namely the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska. Same-sex sexual activity was legalized in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1996 and in the Republika Srpska in 1998, by those two entities adopting their own criminal laws.[73] The Brčko District followed suit and legalized homosexuality in 2003, making it legal nationwide since then.[74]
Same-sex sexual acts became legal in Botswana on 11 June 2019. Previously, sodomy, whether heterosexual or homosexual, was criminalised, punishable by up to seven years' imprisonment. The law criminalising such sexual activity applied to both men and women. Initially, its application was limited to men only (similar to other colonies of the British Empire), however, a Botswana court found this to be discriminatory and that the law should apply to women as well.[75]
During the Portuguese colonization of Brazil, homosexuality was illegal in the country between 1533 and 1830, due to the imposition of the Portuguese Penal Code, which was influenced by the British Buggery Act 1533.[76] In 1830, eight years after the end of the Portuguese domain, sodomy laws were eliminated from the new Penal Code of Brazil.[77]
Private, adult, non-commercial and consensual sexual activity between people of the same sex is legal in Cambodia, and was never criminalized in the history of the country.[79]
Before 1859, the Province of Canada prosecuted sodomy under the English Buggery Act. In 1859, the Province of Canada enacted its own buggery law in the Consolidated Statutes of Canada as an offence punishable by death. Buggery remained punishable by death until 1869. A broader law targeting all homosexual male sexual activity ("gross indecency") was passed in 1892, as part of a larger update to the criminal law of the new dominion of Canada.[80] Changes to the Criminal Code in 1948 and 1961 were used to brand gay men as "criminal sexual psychopaths" and "dangerous sexual offenders." These labels provided for indeterminate prison sentences. Most famously, George Klippert, a homosexual, was labelled a dangerous sexual offender and sentenced to life in prison, a sentence confirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1967.[81] He was released in July 1971.[82]
Sodomy was decriminalized after the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1968-69 (Bill C-150) received royal assent on 27 June 1969. The offences of buggery and "gross indecency" were still in force, however the new act introduced exemptions for married couples, and any two consenting adults above the age of 21 regardless of gender or sexual orientation. The bill had been originally introduced in the House of Commons in 1967 by then Minister of Justice Pierre Trudeau,[83] who famously stated that "there's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation".[84]
Revisions to the Criminal Code in 1987 repealed the offence of "gross indecency", changed "buggery" to "anal intercourse" and reduced the age exemption from 21 to 18.[85] Section 159 of the Criminal Code continued to criminalize anal sex in general, with exemptions (provided no more than two people are present) for husbands and wives, and two consenting parties above the age of 18.[86]
Subsequent case law held that section 159 was unconstitutional, thus anal sex was de facto legal between any two or more consenting persons above the age of consent (14). In the 1995 Court of Appeal for Ontario case R. v. M. (C.) the judges ruled that the law was unconstitutional on the basis that the specific exemptions based on marital status and age infringed on the equality rights guaranteed by section 15 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and constituted discrimination based on sexual orientation.[87] A similar decision was made by the Quebec Court of Appeal in the 1998 case R. v. Roy.[88] In a 2002 decision regarding a case in which three people were engaged in sexual intercourse, the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta declared section 159 in its entirety to be null, including the provisions criminalizing anal sex when more than two persons are taking part or present.[89]
In June 2019, C-75 passed both houses of the Parliament of Canada and received royal assent, repealing section 159 effective immediately and making the age of consent equal at 16 for all individuals.[92]
Consensual sex between two same-sex adults was decriminalized in 1999, but with a higher age of consent set at 18. Since August 2022, the age of consent was equalised to 14 with heterosexuals under a recently implemented law.[96][97]
Sodomy was never explicitly criminalized in China, but private sex between unmarried people was illegal until 1997,[98] and same-sex marriage is not legal in China. The Chinese Supreme Court ruled in 1957 that voluntary sodomy was not a criminal act.[99]
In Hong Kong sex between men in private was legalized for those 21 years or older in 1991.[100] However, an unequal age of consent was established (21 for gay men and 16 for heterosexuals) with the law remaining silent about lesbianism. LGBT rights groups lobbied the Legislative Council to equalise the age of consent law, but were told by conservative lawmakers that the legal inequality was necessary to protect youth and preserve tradition. A lawsuit was initiated to challenge the unequal age of consent in court.[101][102]
In 2005, Justice Hartmann found that the unequal age of consent was unconstitutional under the Bill of Rights Ordinance, violating the right to equality.[103] The ruling was upheld by the Court of Appeal,[104] but the provisions were not formally removed from the Crimes Ordinance (Cap. 200), making the age of consent for gay sex 16 (like heterosexual sex) until 2014.[105][106][107]
On 30 May 2019, in the Yeung Chu Wing v Secretary for Justice case, the High Court ruled in favour of Yeung Chu-wing, an LGBT activist who brought the lawsuit against the government in 2017, and struck down four further provisions under the Crimes Ordinance (Cap. 200) imposing higher penalties for offences committed by homosexual men. Three further provisions were remedially interpreted such that they would no longer discriminate against homosexuals. It abolished the crimes of "procuring others to commit homosexual buggery" and "gross indecency with or by a man under 16". He also overturned "gross indecency by a man with a man otherwise than in private" and "procuring gross indecency by a man with a man". The three offences that now apply to both genders are "homosexual buggery with or by a man under 16", "gross indecency by a man with a male mentally incapacitated person", and "permitting a young person to resort to or be on a premises or vessel for intercourse, prostitution, buggery or homosexual acts". This comes after 20 years of activism to change these laws, in which the government either refused or delayed; the secretary for justice during the trial, however, conceded to nearly all the changes, and agreed that these laws targeting gay men are incompatible with the Basic Law.[108][109][110]
Homosexuality was decriminalized in the Cook Islands by an act of Parliament on 1 June 2023.[112] Prior to that, male homosexual activity was illegal in the Cook Islands under the Crimes Act 1969. Consensual male sodomy was punishable by up to seven years' imprisonment,[113] while indecency between males was punishable by up to five years' imprisonment. The law was inherited from the former British Empire. Prosecutions were rare, however.[114]
Same-sex sexual activity was legalized in Croatia in 1977[116] setting the age of consent at 18 for homosexuals and 14 for heterosexuals.[117] The age of consent was then equalized in 1998 when it was set at 14 by the Croatian Penal Code for everyone, and later raised to 15 with the introduction of a new Penal Code on 1 January 2013.[118][119] There is an exemption to this rule if the age difference between the partners is three years or less.[120]
There is no law in Djibouti that mentions that same-sex sexual activity is illegal; however, the authorities can prosecute the public display of same-sex sexual conduct under laws prohibiting attacks on “good morals".[126]
In April 2024, the High Court of Dominica ruled that sections 14 and 16 of the Sexual Offences Act, that criminalised consensual same-sex activity between adults, were unconstitutional.[127][128][129]
Prior to that ruling, both male and female types of same-sex sexual activity were illegal in Dominica, as was anal intercourse between persons of the opposite sex.[130]
Consensual same-sex sexual acts between adults in private have been legal in the Dominican Republic since 1822 and the age of consent is set equally at 18 years of age.[131][132]
In 2025, the Constitutional Court struck down provisions of the 1966 Police Justice Code and the Armed Forces Justice Code which prohibited same-sex sexual activity among servicemembers, with penalties up to six months.[133]
Since 1 February 2010, private, adult, consensual and non-commercial male and female homosexual conduct has been legal under the Crimes Decree 2009.[134]
In France, the Penal Code of 1791 decriminalized sodomy; this was followed by the Napoleon Penal Code in 1810, which decriminalized sodomy in the part of continental Europe that had been conquered by France, which was most of it.[22]
A less known discriminative law was adopted in 1960, inserting into the Penal Code (article 330, 2nd alinea) a clause that doubled the penalty for indecent exposure for homosexual activity. This ordonnance was intended to repress pimping.[136] The clause against homosexuality was adopted due to a wish of Parliament, as follows:
This ordonnance was adopted by the executive after it was authorised by Parliament to take legislative measures against national scourges such as alcoholism. Paul Mirguet, a Member of the National Assembly, felt that homosexuality was also a scourge, and thus proposed a sub-amendment, therefore known as the Mirguet amendment, tasking the Government to enact measures against homosexuality, which was adopted.[137][138]
This Article 330 alinea 2 was repealed in 1980 as part of an act redefining several sexual offenses.[139]
Paragraph 175, which punished sex between men, was enacted in 1871 and repealed in 1994.[142] In 1935, the Nazis broadened the law so that the courts could pursue any "lewd act" whatsoever, even one involving no physical contact, such as masturbating next to each other.[143] Furthermore, the Gestapo could transport suspected offenders to concentration camps without any legal justification at all (even if they had been acquitted or already served their sentence in jail). Thus, over 10,000 homosexual men were forced into concentration camps, where they were identified by the pink triangle. The majority of them died there.[144]
In 1945, after the concentration camps were liberated, some homosexual prisoners were recalled to custody to serve out their two-year sentence under Paragraph 175.[145] In 1950, East Germany abolished Nazi amendments to Paragraph 175, whereas West Germany kept them and even had them confirmed by its Constitutional Court. In 1969, the government eased Paragraph 175 by providing for an age of consent of 21.[146] The age of consent was lowered to 18 in 1973, and finally, in 1994, the paragraph was repealed and the age of consent lowered to 16, the same that is in force for heterosexual acts.[146] East Germany had already reformed its more lenient version of the paragraph in 1968, and repealed it in 1988.[146]
Following the country's independence from the Ottoman Empire, the penal code of 1834 stipulated that anyone guilty of sodomy would be punished with at least one year imprisonment and police surveillance.[147] Male homosexual practice was decriminalized in 1951. Lesbians were not mentioned or acknowledged in the Greek Criminal Code. The Penal Code outlawed male prostitution and provided for a higher age of consent of 17 for male homosexual acts. However, this provision was abolished resulting in equalization of the age of consent at 15 and the legalization of male prostitution, subject to existing laws on the regulation of prostitution.[148][149][150]
The French Penal Code of 1791, adopted between 25 September and 6 October 1791, extended to Saint-Domingue. When Haiti became independent from France in 1804, no law that criminalized consensual same-sex sexual acts was introduced, and no such law has come into the penal code since.[151]
Homosexuality in Hungary was decriminalized in 1962, Paragraph 199 of the Hungarian Penal Code from then on threatened "only" adults over 20 who engaged themselves in a consensual same-sex relationship with an underaged person between 14 and 20. Then in 1978 the age was lowered to 18. Since 2002, by the ruling of the Constitutional Court of Hungary repealed Paragraph 199 – Which provided an equal age of consent of 14, regardless of sexual orientation or gender. Since 1996, the Unregistered Cohabitation Act 1995 was provided for any couple, regardless of gender or sexual orientation and from 1 July 2009 the Registered Partnership Act 2009 becomes effective, and provides a registered partnership just for same-sex couples – since that opposite-sex already have marriage, this would in-turn create duplication.[152]
Section 178 of the Penal Code of Iceland criminalized same-sex relations in Iceland between 1869 and 1940.[153] In 1992, the age of consent was set at 14,[154] and in 2007 it was raised to 15, regardless of gender and sexual orientation.[155][156]
On 2 July 2009, in the case of Naz Foundation v National Capital Territory of Delhi, the High Court of Delhi struck down much of S. 377 of the IPC, which criminalized various sexual acts, as being unconstitutional. On 11 December 2013, the Supreme Court of India overturned the ruling in Naz Foundation v. National Capital Territory of Delhi, effectively re-criminalizing homosexual activity until action was taken by parliament.[157] However, on 12 July 2018, a Constitution bench of the Supreme Court of India started hearing a review petition over its 2013 judgment. On 6 September 2018, in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India, the Supreme Court struck down the part of S. 377 criminalizing consensual homosexual activities. It upheld that other aspects of S. 377 criminalizing unnatural sex with minors and animals will remain in force.[158]
In the Republic of Ireland, the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993 abolished the offence of "buggery between persons".[159] For some years prior to 1993, criminal prosecution had not been made for buggery between consenting adults. The 1993 Act created an offence of "buggery with a person under the age of 17 years",[160] penalised similar to statutory rape, which also had 17 years as the age of consent. The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2006 replaced this offence with "defilement of a child", encompassing both "sexual intercourse" and "buggery".[161] Buggery with an animal is still unlawful under Section 69 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. In 2012, a man was convicted of this offence for supplying a dog in 2008 to a woman who had intercourse with it and died;[162] he received a suspended sentence and was required to sign the sex offender registry, ending his career as a bus driver.[163]
The newly formed government of Israel continued in British tradition with enforcing their laws regarding the criminalization of homosexual relationships as well as other acts that the government deemed immoral or unnatural which included acts of gender fluidity.[164]
In 1953, the Attorney General of Israel, Haim Cohn, issued a directive ordering the police to refrain from enforcing the law against homosexual acts between consenting adults.[165] The Israeli Supreme Court likewise ruled in 1963 that the law should not be applied to acts between consenting adults in private. The ban on consensual same-sex sexual acts was formally repealed by the Knesset in 1988 by omitting it from the criminal code.[166][167][168]
Sodomy was first criminalized in Japan in 1873, in the early Meiji era. But this provision was repealed only seven years later by the Penal Code of 1880 in accordance with the Napoleonic Penal Code.[176] Since June 2023, the age of consent has been set at 16 years.[177]
Both male and female same-sex sexual activity have been legal in Kazakhstan since late 1997, when under the revised criminal code same-sex relations between consenting adults was no longer a criminal offence.[178]
Same-sex sexual activity was decriminalised in 1794, when the country was a French possession. Article 372 of the Penal Code sets the age of consent to 16, regardless of sexual orientation or gender. This was increased to 18 for same-sex sexual activity in 1971 by the addition of article 372 to the Penal Code, which was repealed in 1992.[179]
Same-sex sexual activity has been legal in Malta since January 1973.[181][182] The age of consent is equal regardless of sexual orientation or gender at 16 years of age.[183][184]
Consensual sodomy was decriminalized by the Supreme Court of Mauritius in a decision dated 4 October 2023.[185]
Previously, Section 250(1) of the Mauritius Criminal Code of 1838 held that "Any person who is guilty of the crime of sodomy ... shall be liable to penal servitude for a term not exceeding 5 years."[186] Under the Supreme Court's 2023 judgement, the section should "be read so as to exclude such consensual acts from [its] ambit."[187]
All mentions of homosexuality were removed from the Mongolian Criminal Code in 1993, effectively legalizing private and consensual same-sex sexual activity.[188][189] The age of consent is 16, regardless of sexual orientation.[190]
The High Court of Namibia in Windhoek ruled that Namibia's common law crimes of “sodomy” and “unnatural sexual offences” were unconstitutional and invalid on 21 June 2024.[192][193] The court also ruled on the same day that the inclusion of references to the crime of sodomy in the Criminal Procedure Act, Immigration Act, and Defense Act were similarly unconstitutional and invalid.[194]
Before the transition from the Kingdom of Nepal to the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal in 2007, private homosexual relations between consenting adults was a crime.[195] Article 1 of Chapter 16 of theNational Code(1963), locally referred to as "Muluki Ain", criminalized “unnatural sexual intercourse”.[196] But in 2007, the Supreme Court of Nepal ruled that same-sex sexual intercourse was not to be construed as “unnatural”. While the newCriminal Codes Act(2008), which replaced the Muluki Ain, appears to continue to criminalize “unnatural sex”, it should be read in light of this case.[197]
The age of consent in Nepal is 18, regardless of gender and sexual orientation.[198]
Male homosexual intercourse was first criminalized in New Zealand when New Zealand adopted England's law with the English Law Act 1858 and adopted British law making "buggery" a crime with a maximum sentence of death.[199][200] (In practice, New Zealand used the death penalty only for offences of murder and once for treason before abolishment in 1961).[201] In 1861, Britain replaced the death penalty for buggery with life imprisonment and New Zealand enacted similar legislation six years later.[200] In 1893, the law in New Zealand was broadened to outlaw any sexual activity between men. Penalties included life imprisonment, hard labour and flogging.[200] Sex between women was never criminalised in New Zealand.[202]
In 1986 homosexual sexual activity between men was legalized in New Zealand, with the age of consent set at 16, the same as for heterosexuals.[203]
The 1950 criminal code (amended 2009) does not explicitly criminalize same-sex sexual activity. However, articles 193 and 262 of the amended criminal code outlaw the creation, distribution and possession of "decadent" culture and sexually explicit media as well as engaging in "obscene" activities.[204]
In 2011, The Korea Times, a South Korean publication, reported that North Korea had executed a lesbian couple, a North Korean woman and Japanese woman, for being influenced by capitalism and "bringing corruption of public morals". In the article, the source was Free North Korea Radio, itself a project of the Defense Forum Foundation, a U.S. government sponsored nonprofit organization.[205] In 2023, the South Korean Ministry of Unification published a 584-page report "North Korean Human Rights Report". According to the report, defector testimony alleged that at least one male detainee in a detention camp was secretly executed for homosexuality in 2014.[206]
Non-commercial, private, consensual sexual activity between people of the same-sex is legal in the Philippines. The age of consent law is set at the legally and equally restricted permissible minimum age of 16 years for all individuals from that age and others above that age as well, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity. However, any form of sexual conduct or affection that occurs in public may be subject to the "grave scandal" prohibition in Article 200 of the Revised Penal Code, which states: "ARTICLE 200. Grave Scandal.—The penalties of arresto mayor and public censure shall be imposed upon any person who shall offend against decency or good customs by any highly scandalous conduct not expressly falling within any other article of this Code."[208]
During the Partitions of Poland (1795–1918) and the German occupation of Poland (1939–1945), laws prohibiting homosexuality were imposed on some territories that make up the modern Polish state. A notable exception was the Napoleonic Code, which was introduced in 1808 and decriminalized homosexuality in parts of Poland until it was overturned by a Tsarist decree in 1835.[209]
Following World War I, same-sex activity continued to be formally criminalized in now-independent Poland, because the penal codes of the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia and the Austria-Hungarian Empire remained in power.[210] They mostly criminalized male same-sex acts, though the Austrian code included broader provisions against so-called "same-sex fornication" and was also used against women.[211][210]
The new Polish Penal Code of 1932 (Kodeks karny) decriminalized consensual same-sex acts.[210][212][213]
During the period of the Portuguese Inquisition, female homosexual activity was not actively prosecuted due to a 1645 ruling; one of the few cases of prosecuting a woman (Maria Duran) for same-sex sexual activity came in 1741, but she was prosecuted for causing distress to her sexual partners, not for her activity.[216] Same-sex sexual activity was first decriminalised in 1852, under Mary II and Ferdinand II of the Kingdom of Portugal, but it was made a crime again in 1886, under Louis I, and Portugal gradually became more oppressive of homosexuals until and throughout the dictatorship years.[217] It was not until 1982 that same-sex sexual activity was decriminalised again,[218] and the age of consent was equalized with heterosexual activity in 2007.[219]
Same-sex relationships have been legal in the Republic of the Congo since 1940. The text of the 1940 Penal Code, as amended in 2006, only prohibits same-sex sexual behavior with a person younger than 21 years. There is an unequal age of consent however, with it being 18 for opposite-sex sexual activity.[220]
Following a ruling of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court on August 29, 2022, consensual same-sex intercourse between adults in private is no longer illegal in Saint Kitts and Nevis.[224]
Previously, Sections 56 and 57 of the "Offences Against the Person Act" criminalized same-sex sexual activity.[225] The Court ruled that the sections violated the Saint Kitts and Nevis constitutional provisions guaranteeing a right to privacy and freedom of expression. The ruling had immediate effect.[226]
In 2011, the government of St. Kitts and Nevis said it had no mandate from the people to abolish the criminalization of homosexuality among consenting adults. However, despite the existence of the law on the books, there had been no known prosecution of same-sex sexual activity, according to the government.[227]
Same-sex sexual activity was illegal for males in Saint Lucia until July 29, 2025, when the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court struck down colonial-era laws against buggery and gross indecency as unconstitutional.[36][37][38]
Homosexuality in Serbia was first criminalized from 1860 and remained so through various regimes, until its first decriminalization in the Socialist Autonomous Province of Vojvodina in 1977.[228] When Vojvodina was reintroduced fully into the Republic of Serbia legal system during the breakout of Yugoslavia, it was recriminalized again, until 1994, when it was decriminalized in the entire Serbia.[229][230][231]
Section 377A of the Singapore Penal Code, introduced during British colonial rule, criminalised "outrage of decency" and additionally punish commission, solicitation, or attempted male same-sex "gross indecency", with "imprisonment of up to two years".[232]
Section 377 was added by the British in 1858 for its colonies. The law was inherited into Singapore in 1871, with 377A introduced into the Penal Code in 1938. In October 2007, during a Penal Code review, Singapore repealed Section 377 of the Penal Code, but 377A remained on the books as an unenforced law.[233] On 29 November 2022, the Parliament of Singapore voted to repeal Section 377A in its entirety.[234] It was officially repealed on 3 January 2023 and struck off the books.[235]
Sweden legalised same-sex sexual activity in 1867, with the age of consent set at 18. In 1987, in order to combat the spread of HIV, the Riksdag passed a law against sex in gay saunas and against prostitution,[240] but it was repealed in 2004.[241]
Bestiality was legalized in 1944, but it was again criminalized in 2014.[242] The relevant legal provision is today found in Chapter 2, 10 § of the Swedish Animal Welfare Act of 2018: "It is forbidden to perform sexual acts with animals. The prohibition does not cover acts performed for veterinary reasons or in connection with breeding or for similar legitimate reasons." Violations of this provision are punishable with a fine or with imprisonment for a maximum of two years (Chapter 10, 2 § of the above Act).[243]
Explicit prohibitions of "consenting ji jian (雞姦; sodomy)" were abolished around 1912, when the Republic of China was established.[244] The criminal code contained no provisions prohibiting consensual same-sex sexual activity between adults.[245] Despite the decriminalization, LGBT people were often harassed and detained under general public order laws. These laws were repealed during the transition to democracy in 1991.[245]
In England, Henry VIII introduced the first legislation under English civil law against sodomy with the Buggery Act 1533 in 1533, making buggery punishable by death.[20] The Act was the country's first civil sodomy law because such offenses had previously been dealt with by the ecclesiastical courts. While it was repealed in 1553 on the accession of Mary I, it was re-enacted in 1563 under Elizabeth I. James Pratt and John Smith were the last two to be executed for sodomy in the United Kingdom in 1835.[249][250]
The official punishment for those convicted remained the death penalty until 1861 in England and Wales, and 1887 in Scotland, though it was not used for sodomy in England after 1835, or for sodomy between adults during the 1800s in Scotland.[251]
Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 of the United Kingdom stated, "Any male person who, in public or private, commits, or is a party to the commission of, or procures or attempts to procure the commission by any male person of, any act of gross indecency with another male person, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof shall be liable at the discretion of the court to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour."[252][253]
Same-sex sexual activities were legalized in Scotland on the same basis as in the 1967 Act, by section 80 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980, which came into force on 1 February 1981.[255]
Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186 (1986), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that upheld, in a 5–4 ruling, the constitutionality of a Georgia sodomy law criminalizing oral and anal sex in private between consenting adults, in this case with respect to homosexual sodomy, though the law did not differentiate between homosexual and heterosexual sodomy.[259]Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003), is a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that U.S. state laws criminalizing sodomy between consenting adults are unconstitutional.[c][32][33] At the time of the Lawrence decision, ten states—Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Michigan, Utah, and Virginia—still banned consensual sodomy without respect to the sex of those involved, and four—Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri (partially)—prohibited same-sex couples from engaging in anal and oral sex.[34]
The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces has ruled that the Lawrence v. Texas decision applies to Article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which is a ban on sodomy in the US Armed Forces. In both United States v. Stirewalt and United States v. Marcum, the court ruled that the "conduct falls within the liberty interest identified by the Supreme Court",[260] but went on to say that despite the application of Lawrence to the military, Article 125 can still be upheld in cases where there are "factors unique to the military environment" that would place the conduct "outside any protected liberty interest recognized in Lawrence."[261] Examples of such factors could be fraternization, public sexual behavior, or any other factors that would adversely affect good order and discipline.[261] Convictions for consensual sodomy have been overturned in military courts under the Lawrence precedent in both United States v. Meno.[262] and United States v. Bullock.[263] As of 2024, 12 states still had laws against consensual sodomy; in 2013, police in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, arrested gay men for "attempted crimes against nature" despite the law having been ruled unconstitutional and unenforceable.[264]
Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Vanuatu. Since the Penal Code (Amendment) Act 2006 commenced in 2007, the age of consensual sex in Vanuatu has been 15 years regardless of sex or sexual orientation.[266]
Since 1890, the territory of what is now Vatican City has had no criminal laws against non-commercial, private, adult and consensual same-sex sexual activity.[267]
Homosexuality has never been punishable since Venezuelan independence, Venezuela being together with Bolivia the only two countries in South America that have not criminalized homosexuality since their formation as sovereign states. However, within the framework of the "law on lazy people and thugs" (pre-criminal behavior laws as in Europe and Latin America during the 20th century) the situation changed slightly; In Venezuela, unlike Spain, this law did not expressly refer to homosexuals, although it was occasionally applied to homosexuals, transgender and/or transsexuals who practiced prostitution, as well as to sex workers in general, as reported by Amnesty International.[268] People subjected to this legislation by "administrative acts" could be placed under "reeducation programs" in "special places of confinement" without trial, as also happened in many other countries, including Spain.[269] This law was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Justice in 1997.[270][271]
The age of consent is equal regardless of gender or sexual orientation at 16.[272]
Article 338 of Algerian law (English translation) reads:
"Anyone guilty of a homosexual act is punishable with imprisonment of between 2 months and two years, and with a fine of 500 to 2000 Algerian Dinars. If one of the participants is below 18 years old, the punishment for the older person can be raised to 3 years' imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 dinars"[276]
Article 333 of the Algerian law (English translation) reads:
"When the outrage to public decency has consisted of an act against nature with an individual of the same sex, the penalty is imprisonment of between 6 months and 3 years, and a fine of between 1,000 and 10,000 Algerian Dinars."
—Article 333, ILGA May 2008 world laws report[276]
Formal laws against homosexuality were imposed by the British when Bangladesh was a part of British India; they were enacted in 1860 through the Indian Penal Code and went into effect in 1862.[277] These laws were carried over into the Pakistan Penal Code following the partition of India in 1947, and continue to be part of Bangladesh's legal code since its independence from Pakistan in 1971.[278]
Prior to 2025, male and female types of same-sex sexual activity had always been legal in Burkina Faso, with an equal age of consent implemented in 1996.[280] In July 2024, the military junta, led by Ibrahim Traore, in power since the September 2022 Burkina Faso coup d'état, adopted an amended family code draft which would make promotion of homosexual acts illegal.[281][282][283][284]
On September 1, 2025, any promotion of homosexuality or promotion of LGBTQ activities was banned entirely, with up to 2 to 5 years in prison and a fine as punishment. It was also announced that foreign nationals who violated the law would be deported.[281][285][286][287] The legislation was passed unanimously by the unelected 71-member transitional parliament.[288][289] The legislation took effect immediately.[290]
According to an unofficial English translation of Article 567 of the Burundi Penal Code, a person who has sexual relations with someone of the same sex may be punished with imprisonment for three months to two years and a fine of 50,000 to 100,000 francs.[291][292]
Both male and female same-sex sexual acts are illegal in Comoros. Article 300 of the new 2020 Penal Code establishes that "Any act of a sexual nature contrary to morality or unnatural shall be punished with a sentence of six months to two years and a fine of 100,000 to 300,000 francs."[295]
Previously, the 1982 Penal Code established that such acts were punished with up to five years imprisonment and a fine of 50,000 to 1,000,000 francs.[158][296][297]
Male homosexuality is illegal in Eswatini, though this law is in practice unenforced.[298] According to the 2021 Human Rights Practices Report from the US Department of State, "there has never been an arrest or prosecution for consensual same-sex conduct."[299]
The previous Penal Code of the country, enacted in 1957, encompassed a dedicated chapter addressing "sexual deviations." Contained within this chapter, Article 600 prescribed punitive measures for engaging in sexual acts or any other conduct deemed "indecent" with a person of the same sex. The prescribed penalties ranged from imprisonment for a period of 10 days to three years.[300] The current Penal Code, enacted in 2004, continues to proscribe same-sex sexual activity as a criminal offense. As per the provisions outlined in Article 629, individuals found involved in such activities may face imprisonment, with a minimum sentence of one year, as explicitly delineated in Article 630. Additionally, under Article 630(1)(b), “making a profession” of such acts aggravates the penalty to up to 10 years.[300]
In Ethiopian law, the wording of the penal code treats a homosexual act as an act of an aggressor against a victim. Consequently, the offense of the aggressor is considered aggravated, when it results in the suicide of the victim for reasons of "shame, distress or despair".[301]
In common with other former British colonies, Guyana had criminal codes imposed by its colonial rulers. Prohibitions against "buggery", "gross indecency", and "indecent behavior" were widely enacted across the British Empire in the nineteenth century. Although the terms are not explicitly defined in law, their English common law interpretation was well established by the time the Criminal Law (Offences) Act(1893) was introduced in Guyana. The country inherited the Act itself and the common law understanding of its provisions; these were retained following independence, long after the repeal of such offences in Britain.[302]
The criminalization of same-sex activity under the Act is contained in the following provisions:'[303][304]
Section 351 Any male person who, in public or private, commits, or is a party to the commission, or procures or attempts to procure the commission, by any male person, of any act of gross indecency with any other male person shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and liable to imprisonment for two years.
Section 352[d] Everyone who– (a) attempts to commit buggery; [...] shall be guilty of felony and liable to imprisonment for ten years.
Section 353 Everyone who commits buggery ... shall be guilty of felony and liable to imprisonment for life.
Section 354 Everyone who– (a) does any indecent act in any place to which the public have or are permitted to have access; or (b) does any indecent act in any place, intending thereby to insult or offend any person, shall be guilty of a misdemeanour and liable to imprisonment for two years.
In 2024, there were plans to make homosexual relations in Iraq punishable by up to death, but the law was revised before being quietly passed later that year to lower the punishment to 15 years in jail[306] with fines and deportation.[307]
In Jamaica, homosexuality is illegal. Consensual sexual intercourse between same-sex partners is legally punishable by up to 10 years of imprisonment with hard labour.[308]
Expressions of homosexuality are illegal under Kenyan statutes and carry a maximum penalty of 14 years' imprisonment, or 21 years under certain aggravating circumstances. Sex acts between women are mentioned under the gender-neutral term "person" in Section 162 of the Penal Code and are enforced equally. On 28 November 2010, Prime Minister Raila Odinga called for women or men engaging in same-sex activity to be arrested.[309][310]
Consensual sexual activity between males is illegal under Kuwait's penal code. No laws specifically criminalise same-sex sexual activity between women.[311] The relevant law states:[312]
193 المادة رقم
اذا واقع رجل رجلا آخر بلغ الحادية والعشرين وكان ذلك برضائه ، عوقب كل منهما بالحبس مدة لا تجاوز سبع سنوات.
Translation:
Article No. 193
If a man has sexual intercourse with another man who has reached the age of twenty-one and this is with his consent, each of them shall be punished with imprisonment for a period not exceeding seven years.
The penal code also covers "public indecency":[312]
المادة رقم 198
من اتى اشارة او فعلا فاضحا مخلا بالحياء في مكان عام او بحيث يراه او يسمعه من كان في مكان عام ، يعاقب بالحبس مدة لا تجاوز سنة واحدة وبغرامة لا تجاوز الف روبية او باحدى هاتين العقوبتين.
Translation:
Article No. 198
Whoever makes an indecent gesture or act in a public place or in such a way that it can be seen or heard by anyone in a public place, shall be punished with imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year and with a fine not exceeding one thousand rupees or with one of these two penalties.
Any female person who, whether in public or private, commits any act of gross indecency with another female person, or procures another female person to commit any act of gross indecency with her, or attempts to procure the commission of any such act by any female person with herself or with another female person, whether in public or private, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to imprisonment for five years.
—Section 137A: Indecent practices between females
Any person who—
(a) has carnal knowledge of any person against the order of nature; or...
(c) permits a male person to have carnal knowledge of him or her against the order of nature,
shall be guilty of a felony and shall be liable to imprisonment for fourteen years, with or without corporal punishment.
—Section 153. Unnatural offences
Any person who attempts to commit any of the offences specified in the last preceding section shall be guilty of a felony and shall be liable to imprisonment for seven years, with or without corporal punishment.
—Section 154: Attempt to commit unnatural offences
Any male person who, whether in public or private, commits any act of gross indecency with another male person, or procures another male person to commit any act of gross indecency with him, or attempts to procure the commission of any such act by any male person with himself or with another male person, whether in public or private, shall be guilty of a felony and shall be liable to imprisonment for five years, with or without corporal punishment [under Section 28 of the Penal Code].
Section 377 of the Malaysian Penal Code prohibits carnal intercourse "against the order of nature", with Section 377A stating, "Any person who has sexual connection with another person by the introduction of the penis into the anus or mouth of the other person is said to commit carnal intercourse against the order of nature."[315][316]
Section 377B of the code reads, "Whoever voluntarily commits carnal intercourse against the order of nature shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to twenty years, and shall also be liable to whipping."[316]
Section 377 of the Myanmar Penal Code prohibits sodomy, whether heterosexual or homosexual. Alongside fines, the prescribed punishment is up to 10 years, although the law has not been strictly enforced.[317]
On 18 September 1936, the criminal code of Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate Criminal Code, which drew from Ottoman law or English law,[319] was enacted. Section 152(1)(b)(c) of the code states that any person who "commits an act of sodomy with any person against his will by the use of force or threats" or "commits an act of sodomy with a child under the age of sixteen years" is liable for imprisonment up to 14 years, while Section 152(2)(b) states that anyone who has "carnal knowledge" of anyone acting "against the law of nature" is liable for a prison term up to 10 years.[320] Palestinian academic Sa'ed Atshan argued that this criminal code was an example of British export of homophobia to the Global South.[321] The present applicability of this law is disputed. The Human Dignity Trust states that the criminal code is still "in operation" in Gaza albeit with scarce evidence of its enforcement,[322] and Human Rights Watch states that the criminal code is still "in force" in Gaza.[323]Amnesty International does not report same-sex sexual activity as being illegal in any Palestinian territory but emphasizes that Palestinian authorities do not stop, prevent or investigate homophobic and transphobic threats and attacks.[324] The editor-in-chief of the Palestinian Yearbook of International Law, Anis. F. Kassim argued that the criminal code could be "interpreted as allowing homosexuality."[325][326]
The decriminalization of homosexuality in Palestine is a patchwork. On the one hand, the British Mandate Criminal Code was in force in Jordan until 1951, with the Jordanian Penal Code having "no prohibition on sexual acts between persons of the same sex," which applied to the West Bank,[323] while Israel stopped using the code in 1977.[327] On the other, the Palestinian Authority has not legislated either for or against homosexuality. Legalistically, the confused legal legacy of foreign occupation – Ottoman, British, Jordanian, Egyptian and Israeli – continues to determine the erratic application or non-application of the criminal law to same-sex activity and gender variance in each of the territories.[328] A correction issued by the Associated Press in August 2015 stated that homosexuality is not banned by law in the Gaza Strip or West Bank, but is "largely taboo," and added "there are no laws specifically banning homosexual acts."[329]
In 2018, Human Rights Watch noted that laws in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip include a combination of unified laws passed by the Palestinian Legislative Council and ratified by the President of Palestine, and stated that laws from the former British Mandate, Egypt, and Jordan still apply when unified laws have not been issued. However, HRW added that Hamas has issued separate decrees and has not applied presidential decrees by the President of Palestine.[330] Also, the organization reported that articles 258 and 263 of the draft penal code, in 2003, for Palestine, contained "provisions that criminalize adult consensual same sex conduct". However, it is not known whether this code, which prohibited sexual intercourse with women who are over 18 in an "illicit manner" with imprisonment, a prison term of up to five years if they are related to the said woman or up to ten years for those who engage in rape, and up to five years in prison for a male who "commits the act of sodomy with another male", was implemented.[331][330]
Male same-sex sexual activity is prohibited by Section 210 of the Papua New Guinea Penal Code. Anal sex and oral sex between persons of the opposite sex is also illegal. Those caught engaging in anal sex or oral sex (whether heterosexual or homosexual) can be punished with up to fourteen years' imprisonment. Other same-sex sexual acts can be punished with up to three years' imprisonment.[332]
Homosexuality was made illegal in British-controlled Qatar via the Indian Penal Code through the Order in Council 1938.[333]:30 This was replaced by Article 171 in 1956, and then after independence, Article 171 was replaced by Article 201 of Qatar's 1971 Penal Code.[334]:141 Since 2004, Article 296 of the current Penal Code (Law 11/2004)[335] stipulates imprisonment between one and three years for sodomy. This is less severe than the 1971 law that stipulated up to five years' imprisonment for men and women found to be homosexual (punishment of sexual acts instead of punishment for sexual orientation). The local death penalty for same-gender sex is applicable only to Muslims because extramarital sex regardless of the gender of the participants is punishable by death and because same-gender couples cannot get married. However, there is no evidence that the death penalty has been applied for consensual same-sex relations taking place between adults outside the spaces policed by authorities.[336][337][338]
Sodomy, defined as anal sex whether the couple is same-sex or opposite-sex, is illegal in Sudan. The Offence is defined in Article 148 of the Criminal Act of 1991. The original wording (translated) of the sodomy law, as amended in 2009, follows:[343]
(1)There shall be deemed to commit sodomy, every man who penetrates his glans, or the equivalent thereof, in the anus of a woman, or another man's, or permits another man to penetrate his glans, or its equivalent in his anus. (2) (a) whoever commits the offence of sodomy, shall be punished, with shipping a hundred lashes, and he may also be punished, with imprisonment, for a term not exceeding five years; (b) where the offender is convicted for the second time, he shall be punished, with whipping a hundred lashes, and with imprisonment, for a term, not exceeding five years; (c) where the offender is convicted for the third time he shall be punished, with death, or with life imprisonment.
—Article 148: Offence of sodomy, 1991 Criminal Act as Amended in 2009
On 9 July 2020, Sudan abolished the death penalty as a punishment for anal sex.[344][345][346] The Transitional Sovereignty Council also eliminated the imposition of 100 lashes and added two years to the sentence for a second offence. The penalty for a third offence was changed from death or life imprisonment to life imprisonment. A first offence is now punished with up to five years and a second offence with up to seven years.[347][348][349]
Male same-sex sexual activity, as well as heterosexual sodomy, is illegal in Tonga under the Criminal Offences Act (Tongan: Lao ki he Ngaahi Hia) with a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment. The offenders may also be whipped as a punishment if convicted.[350]
Article 230 of the Penal Code of 1913 (largely modified in 1964) decrees imprisonment of up to three years for private acts of sodomy between consenting adults.[351] (The official text of Article 230 in French is "La sodomie, si elle ne rentre dans aucun des cas prévus aux articles précédents, est punie de l'emprisonnement pendant trois ans.").[352] Gay people are also often accused of violating Article 226 of the national Penal Code which outlaws "outrages against public decency".[353]
The Penal Code prohibits male homosexual and heterosexual anal intercourse. However, according to the United States Department of State, as of 2013 there were no reports of prosecution of consenting adults under these provisions.[354]
The Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023 prescribes up to twenty years in prison for "promotion of homosexuality", life imprisonment for "homosexual acts", and the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality".[355] The latter offence includes "serial offenders", same-sex rape, sex in a position of authority or procured by intimidation, sex with persons older than seventy-five, sex with the disabled and mentally ill, and homosexual acts committed by a person with a previous conviction of homosexuality. Further, under its provisions, the promotion (including normalisation) of homosexuality is punishable by imprisonment for up to 20 years and fines.[356] This Act came into force in 2023,[A][357] making Uganda the only Christian-majority country to punish some types of consensual same-sex acts with the death penalty.[358]A similar law had been passed in 2013, but was later struck down in 2014 as unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court of Uganda on legal technicalities.[359]
↑A draft version of the Act, the Anti-Homosexuality Bill (Bill no. 3 of 2023), generated international news coverage upon its first successful passage through the parliament. Had it been enacted unamended, it would have criminalised merely identifying as gay, lesbian or bisexual, transgender or non-binary, stipulating that "hold[ing] out as a lesbian, gay, transgender, a queer or any other sexual or gender identity that is contrary to the binary categories of male and female" was committing "an offence of homosexuality" and thus liable to the penalty of ten years in prison. This provision, 2(1)(d), was excluded from the Act that was finally passed and signed into law.[360]
Same-sex sexual activity is illegal in the United Arab Emirates; however, prosecution is brought only on complaint of a husband or (male) legal guardian. There is no maximum punishment for this in the United Arab Emirates, with the sentence at courts' discretion (10 years imprisonment in Dubai, 14 years imprisonment in Abu Dhabi), and the minimum punishment is 6 months' imprisonment.[361][362][363]
Laws criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual activity between men were enacted in the Uzbek SSR in 1926.[364] Consensual same-sex sexual activity between men is criminalized in present-day Uzbekistan by Article 120 of Uzbek's criminal code (1994):[365][366][367]
Besoqolbozlik, that is, voluntary sexual intercourse of two male individuals – shall be punished with imprisonment up to three years.
Article 264 of the national penal code prohibits private consensual homosexual acts between adult men. The stipulated punishment in the law for unmarried men is 100 lashes and up to a year in prison. The law stipulates that married men convicted of homosexuality are to be put to death.[368]
Article 268 of the national penal code prohibits private consensual homosexual acts between adult women. The law stipulates that premeditated acts of lesbianism are punished with up to three years in prison.[368]
Same-sex sexual activity is proscribed by Zambia's penal code. The law criminalizes consensual same-sex sexual conduct, with penalties upon conviction for engaging in "acts against the order of nature" of fifteen years' to life imprisonment. Conviction under the lesser charge of "gross indecency" carries a penalty of up to fourteen years' imprisonment.[369][370][371][372][373]
↑ These sub-national jurisdictions are: the province of Aceh (Indonesia), Gaza (Palestine) and Chechnya (Russia).
↑The judgment does not recognize a constitutional right to certain sexual activities such as prostitution, bestiality, and incest, due to other metrics, such as the perceived inherent harm that these activities carry.[32]
↑The judgment does not recognize a constitutional right to certain sexual activities such as prostitution, bestiality, and incest, due to other metrics, such as the perceived inherent harm that these activities carry.[32]
↑Clauses (b) and (c) of §352 deal with sexual assaults, so are intentionally omitted from the quotation, as provisions of the Act not relevant to LGBT rights. Those provisions are: "... or (b) assaults any person with intent to commit buggery; (c) or being a male, indecently assaults any other male person..."
References
↑Weeks, Jeff (January 1981). Sex, Politics and Society: The Regulation of Sexuality Since 1800. London: Longman Publishing Group. ISBN0-582-48334-4.
1234"State Sponsored Homophobia"(PDF). ILGA.org. International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. 2019. Archived from the original(PDF) on 22 December 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
↑McGinn, Thomas A. J. (1998). Prostitution, Sexuality and the Law in Ancient Rome. Oxford University Press. pp.140–141.
12Richlin, Amy (1983). The Garden of Priapus: Sexuality and Aggression in Roman Humor (1992ed.). Oxford University Press.
123Boswell, John (1980). Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century. University of Chicago Press.
↑Williams, Craig (1999). Roman Homosexuality: Ideologies of Masculinity in Classical Antiquity. Oxford University Press. p.116.
↑Butrica, James L. (2005). "Some Myths and Anomalies in the Study of Roman Sexuality". Same-Sex Desire and Love in Greco-Roman Antiquity and in the Classical Tradition. Haworth Press. p.231.
↑Richlin, Amy (1993). "Not before Homosexuality: The Materiality of the cinaedus and the Roman Law against Love between Men". Journal of the History of Sexuality. 3 (4): 525.
↑West, Green. Sociolegal Control of Homosexuality: A Multi-Nation Comparison. p.224– via Google Books.
↑Sereisky, Mark (1930). Great Soviet Encyclopedia. p.593.
Soviet legislation does not recognize so-called crimes against morality. Our laws proceed from the principle of protection of society and therefore countenance punishment only in those instances when juveniles and minors are the objects of homosexual interest ... while recognizing the incorrectness of homosexual development ... our society combines prophylactic and other therapeutic measures with all the necessary conditions for making the conflicts that afflict homosexuals as painless as possible and for resolving their typical estrangement from society within the collective
↑Government, Northern Territory (14 April 2021). "Apply to remove a past homosexual offence". nt.gov.au. Archived from the original on 19 March 2023. Consensual sex between adult men in private stopped being a crime in the Northern Territory (NT) on 1 January 1984.
↑"Acts of Violence, Discrimination, and Other Abuses Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity". BAHRAIN 2017 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT(PDF) (Report). United States Department of State. 21 April 2018. Archived(PDF) from the original on 21 April 2018. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
↑Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (2024). "Section 6. Discrimination and Societal Abuses: Acts of Violence, Criminalization, and Other Abuses Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity". 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Bahrain (Report). United States Department of State. Archived from the original on 14 October 2024.
↑"最高人民法院关于成年人间自愿鸡奸是否犯罪问题的批复_全文"[Reply of the Supreme People's Court on whether voluntary sodomy among adults is a crime] (in Chinese). Retrieved 15 August 2019– via law-lib.com.
↑Tzanaki, Dimitra (16 June 2019). "Γενεαλογία φύλου και σεξουαλικότητας". I Efimerida ton Syntakton (in Greek). Anexartita Mesa Mazikis Enimerosis S.A. Archived from the original on 28 January 2023. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
202. gr.Hver sem hefur samræði eða önnur kynferðismök við barn, yngra en 15[fimmtán] ára, skal sæta fangelsi ekki skemur en 1[eitt] ár og allt að 16[sextán] árum.
Section 202 Anyone who has carnal intercourse or other sexual intimacy with a child younger than 15 years shall be subject to imprisonment for at least 1 year and up to 16 years.
↑Center for North Korean Human Rights Records (30 March 2023). Report on North Korean Human Rights (Report). p.70. Retrieved 23 September 2023. Based on testimonies collected, it appears that certain detention facilities practice secret executions of their detainees. There are detention centers called 'kukeumso' managed by the Ministry of State Security where most of the detainees are transferred to political prison camps or secretly executed, and it is very rare for them to be transferred to kyohwaso [prison camp]. A defector who directly heard it from the head of the kukeumso testified that in 2014, a male detainee was secretly executed for homosexuality, and in 2013, a female detainee was secretly executed for prostitution. (72 in PDF)
123Szulc, Lukasz; Springer International Publishing AG (2018). Transnational Homosexuals in Communist Poland Cross-Border Flows in Gay and Lesbian Magazines. Springer. pp.8, 97. ISBN978-3-319-58901-5.
↑Tin, Louis-Georges; Redburn, Marek; Michaud, Alice; Mathers, Kyle (2008). "Poland". The Dictionary of Homophobia: A Global History of Gay & Lesbian Experience. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press.
↑Hildebrandt, Achim (2014). "Routes to decriminalization: A comparative analysis of the legalization of same-sex sexual acts". Sexualities. 17 (1–2): 230–253. doi:10.1177/1363460713511105. S2CID145575130.
↑Kultura i społeczeństwo PRL. Materiały ze Studenckiej Sesji Naukowej, Wrocław, 26 kwietnia 2001 r.
↑Soyer, François (2 November 2014). "The Inquisitorial trial of a cross-dressing lesbian: Reactions and responses to female homosexuality in 18th-century Portugal". Journal of Homosexuality. 61 (11): 1529–1557. doi:10.1080/00918369.2014.944044. PMID25022623. S2CID11150648.
↑郭, 晓飞 (2007). "中国有过同性恋的非罪化吗？"[Did (Mainland) China decriminalized homosexuality in the past?]. 中国"性"研究[China Sexuality Research] (in Simplified Chinese) (26). 万有出版社 Universal Press (Taiwan). Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. 1903年清政府成立了修订法律馆...修订后的《大清新刑律》不再惩罚成年男性间"和同鸡奸"...这部法律虽然并未正式施行，但是1912年经稍作修改后，成了包括后来北洋政府也在用的《中华民国暂行新刑律》[In 1903, Qing government established the law revision board...the revised 《New Great Qing Criminal Code》 no longer punish adult gay men "consenting sodomy"....although this law was not implemented (Qing monarchy was replaced with Republic of China), it was slightly modified in 1912 to become 《Republic of China Provisional Criminal Code》 adopted by Beiyang government]
12Kuan, Hsiao-Wei (October 2019). "臺灣民主化後同志人權保障之變遷"[Taiwan post-democratization changes on LGBT human rights protection](PDF). 中研院法學期刊[Academia Sinica Law Journal] (in Traditional Chinese). 2019 (Special 1). Academia Sinica: 569, 579. Retrieved 4 December 2023. ...中華民國政府統治後，臺灣所施行的1935年刑法，也未處罰同性性行為...相反的，同性間的性，其隱藏不可說...雖非透過刑罰，但仍在各處存在許多恣意的管制對於同性性行為加以貶低和醜化，例如以違警罰法（及其後的社會秩序維護法）的「行跡不檢」...原違警罰法終於在1991年6月29日廢止...在戒嚴時期，臨檢就是警察騷擾同性戀的手段，過去即慣常以「違警罰法」的各項「奇裝異服」「妨害風俗」的名義盤查同志...[...after Republic of China started governing (Taiwan), the criminal code of 1935 which was implemented in Taiwan had no punishment for same-sex activity...on the contrary, same-sex activities were hidden and slienced...although they were not criminally punished (for same-sex activity), they were still been humiliated and vilified through various arbitrary rules, such as law on obstruction against police (and later offense on "disorderly behavior" through law on breach of social order)...obstruction against police law was repealed in June 29, 1991...during the martial law period, police conduct raids as a way to harass LGBTs...in the past, LGBTs were frequently interrogated by the police on the suspicion of obstructing against police for various reasons including "wearing strange clothes" or "offense against social customs"...]
↑Routledge International Encyclopedia of Queer Culture. Editor David A. Gerstner. pg. 669. United Kingdom: Routledge, 2006. ISBN9780415306515
↑Cook, Matt; Mills, Robert; Trumback, Randolph; Cocks, Harry (2007). A Gay History of Britain: Love and Sex Between Men Since the Middle Ages. Greenwood World Publishing. p.109. ISBN978-1846450020.
Quiconque fait des relations sexuelles avec la personne de même sexe est puni d’une servitude pénale de trois mois à deux ans et d’une amende de cinquante mille francs à cent mille francs ou d’une de ces peines seulement.
↑ILGA World; Lucas Ramon Mendos; Kellyn Botha; Rafael Carrano Lelis; Enrique López de la Peña; Ilia Savelev; Daron Tan (14 December 2020). State-Sponsored Homophobia report: 2020 global legislation overview update(PDF) (Report) (14thed.). Geneva: ILGA. Archived from the original(PDF) on 15 December 2020. Same-sex sexual activity is criminalised despite no law explicitly outlining this, as Section 252(1) of the Constitution (2005) states that Roman-Dutch Common Law, as interpreted in 1907, applies to any regulations or laws in place prior to independence in 1968 and not subsequently overturned. As such, "sodomy" remains a crime.
↑Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (2021). "Section 6. Discrimination and Societal Abuses". 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Eswatini (Report). United States Department of State. Retrieved 18 June 2022. While there are colonial-era common law prohibitions against sodomy, no penalties are specified, and there has never been an arrest or prosecution for consensual same-sex conduct.
12Mendos, Lucas Ramón; Botha, Kellyn; Carrano Lelis, Rafael; López de la Peña, Enrique; Savelev, Ilia; Tan, Daron (2020). State-Sponsored Homophobia(PDF) (13ed.). Geneva: ILGA World. p.116.
↑"Chapter 008:01", Criminal Law (Offences) Act(PDF), Ministry of Legal Affairs, Government of Guyana, p.184, archived from the original(PDF) on 23 November 2021
↑ILGA World; Lucas Ramón Mendos; Kellyn Botha; Rafael Carrano Lelis; Enrique López de la Peña; Ilia Savelev; Daron Tan (14 December 2020). State-Sponsored Homophobia report: 2020 global legislation overview update(PDF) (Report) (14th reviseded.). Geneva: ILGA. p.133. Archived from the original(PDF) on 15 December 2020. Article 193 of Penal Code (Law No. 16) (1960) criminalises consensual intercourse between men of full age (from the age of 21), which carries a possible imprisonment of up to seven years.
↑Legislating for Equality: A Multinational Collection of Non-Discrimination Norms. Volume IV: Asia and Oceania. pg. 471. Netherlands: Brill, 2019.
12Graham, Garrett. The Gay State: The Quest for an Independent Gay Nation-State and What It Means to Conservatives and the World’s Religions. pg. 195. United Kingdom: iUniverse, 2010.
↑"UAE: Sweeping Legal 'Reforms' Deepen Repression". Human Rights Watch. 5 June 2022. Retrieved 21 June 2023. Under the 2021 law, if men and women have sex outside of marriage, the act carries a penalty of no less than six months' imprisonment. Sodomy with an adult male is also criminalized under the law. In both cases, the offenses can only be prosecuted on the basis of a complaint by a husband or male guardian.... The law disproportionately affects women as it only allows men to complain about and forgive extramarital sex, and provides for only a minimum sentence allowing judges' discretion to provide harsher sentences.
↑Staff reporter. "New UAE law: Reform eases restrictions on extra-marital relationships from January 2". Khaleej Times. Retrieved 25 July 2023. In all cases, the husband or guardian has the right to waive the complaint, and the waiver entails the expiration of the criminal case or the suspension of the execution of the penalty, as the case may be.
↑Healey, Dan (2002). "Homosexual Existence and Existing Socialism: New Light on the Repression of Male Homosexuality in Stalin's Russia". GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies. 8 (3): 349–378. doi:10.1215/10642684-8-3-349. S2CID143578469.
↑Government of the Republic of Zambia (2005) [Penal Code Act 1931], "Chapter XV: Offences against morality: Sections 155–156 ['Unnatural offences']; Section 158 ['Indecent practices between persons of the same sex'], §(1–3); (As amended by No. 26 of 1933 and repealed and replaced by Act No. 15 of 2005)", The Penal Code Act(PDF), Chapter 87 of The Laws of Zambia, Parliament of Zambia, [As amended, 2005], archived from the original(PDF) on 31 March 2022, retrieved 15 June 2022– via UN International Labour Organization
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