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This article is about current LGBT rights around the world. For historical and current movements to further LGBT rights, see LGBT social movements.Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) related laws vary greatly by country or territory – everything from legal recognition of
same-sex marriage or
other types of partnerships, to the
death penalty as punishment for same-sex sexual activity.
LGBT-related laws include but are not limited to:
sodomy laws, anti-
lesbianism laws, higher
ages of consent for same-sex activity, government recognition of
same-sex relationships,
LGBT adoption,
sexual orientation and military service,
immigration equality, anti-discrimination laws, and hate crime laws regarding
violence against LGBT people.
History of LGBT-related laws
Throughout history and across cultures, the regulation of sexuality reflects broader cultural norms. Norms change in response to economic, social or political changes, including interactions with other societies.
Most of the history of sexuality is unrecorded. Even recorded norms do not always shed full light on actual practices. Early societies permitted certain forms of homosexuality, but were not necessarily free alternatives to established forms of marriage and family. In Ancient Athens, for example, homosexuality among men provided no alternative to marriage within a heterosexually structured household. Moreover, no individual or sexual freedom was available to women. Nor was sexuality inevitably consensual. Male heads of households could enjoy sexual relations with male or female slaves, including pre-adolescents, without the latter's consent.
Some people believe that the ultimate origin of punitive laws targeting homosexual relations lies with Abrahamic religions. The first recorded
Abrahamic laws against sexual intercourse between men are dated by scholars to circa
550 BC, during the
Babylonian captivity of the
Jewish people; they are recorded in
Leviticus (though conservative scholars date Leviticus to be much older), and prescribe the death penalty. It is unclear how rigorously that prohibition was enforced, nor should it be assumed that patterns of enforcement remained constant.
Similar prohibitions are found across
Indo-European cultures in
Lex Scantinia in Ancient Rome and
nith in protohistoric Germanic culture, or the
Middle Assyrian Law Codes dating 1075 BC. Punitive laws spread as military conquest,
colonialism, and missionary work spread the influence of traditional interpretations of
Judaism,
Christianity, and
Islam.
Laws prohibiting homosexuality were also passed in
communist China. (The
People's Republic of China neither adopted an Abrahamic religion nor was colonized, except for
Hong Kong and
Macau which were colonized with Victorian era social mores and maintain separate legal system from the rest of the PRC.) Homosexuality was not decriminalized there until 1997.
In modern times, LGBT people face different laws for certain medical procedures than other groups. For example, in the United States, sexually active gay men have been prohibited from
giving blood since 1983, and FDA guidelines recommended against accepting them as
sperm donors in 2005.
LGBT-related laws by country or territory
See also
