LGBT history

LGBT history is dubious as an academic discipline because it is dominated by activists whose motive is not to establish objective facts but to present homosexual behavior in a partisan way. Their scholarship is questionable. This propagandist motive results in the publication of a lot of highly distorted and unreliable material. Tiny fragments of evidence are exaggerated, and allegations of mass persecution are invented. See Homocaust.

A prime example of LGBT history being bad history is John Boswell's book The Marriage of Likeness: Same-sex Unions in Pre-modern Europe in which he claimed that Orthodox Christian Church in the Middle Ages performed same sex weddings. This was a misinterpretation of the ceremony of "adelphopoiesis", which was not a form of marriage. The name means "the making of brothers". It was a bonding between two celibate men. Boswell, who was not a scholar of Greek, based his theory on mistranslation and misrepresentation. Genuine Orthodox theologians refuted his claims vigorously.

Modern LGBT history tries to present all homosexual behavior as acceptable but most of the examples listed below as "homosexual" involve the abuse of young boys by older men. The younger partner has no choice in the matter. It should really be categorized as pederasty, pedophilia, hebephilia, ephebophilia or straightforward child abuse.

The topic has only recently been pursued and interwoven into historical narrative. In 1994 the annual observance of LGBT History Month began in the US, and it has since been picked up in other countries. During LGBT History Month the media is saturated with propaganda passed off as history and school pupils are taught a lot of highly inaccurate bogus history - for example the claim that Florence Nightingale was "gay". In the United Kingdom, it is imposed during February, to coincide with a misguided celebration of the 2005 abolition of Section 28, which wisely prohibited schools from promoting homosexuality.

Ancient history

See also: Timeline of LGBT history

Africa

Anthropologists Stephen Murray and Will Roscoe reported that women in Lesotho engaged in socially sanctioned "long term, erotic relationships," named motsoalle. E. E. Evans-Pritchard also recorded that male Azande warriors (in the northern Congo) routinely took on boy-wives between the ages of twelve and twenty, who helped with household tasks and participated in intercrural sex with their older husbands. The practice had died out by the early 20th century, after Europeans had gained control of African countries, but was recounted to Evans-Pritchard by the elders with whom he spoke.

Ancient Egypt

Main article: Homosexuality in ancient Egypt

A Rammeside period ostraca, depicting two males having anal intercourse

A few fragments of pottery dating from the Ramesside Period have been found which depict homosexual behavior. The duo Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum, manicurists in the Palace of King Niuserre during the Fifth Dynasty of Egyptian pharaohs, circa 2400 BC. are surmised to have been homosexual because of a representation of them embracing nose-to-nose in their shared tomb. King Neferkare and General Sasenet, a Middle Kingdom story, has a plot revolving around a king's clandestine homosexual affair with one of his generals. It may refer to the actual Pharaoh Pepi II, who was possibly homosexual.

Early modern Egypt

The Siwa Oasis was of special interest to anthropologists and sociologists because of its historical acceptance of male homosexuality. The practice probably arose because from ancient times unmarried men and adolescent boys were required to live and work together outside the town of Shali, secluded for several years from any access to available women. In 1900, the German egyptologist George Steindorff reported that, "the feast of marrying a boy was celebrated with great pomp, and the money paid for a boy sometimes amounted to fifteen pound, while the money paid for a woman was a little over one pound." The archaeologist Count Byron de Prorok reported in 1937 that "an enthusiasm could not have been approached even in Sodom... Homosexuality was not merely rampant, it was raging...Every dancer had his boyfriend...[and] chiefs had harems of boys.

Walter Cline noted that, "all normal Siwan men and boys practice sodomy...the natives are not ashamed of this; they talk about it as openly as they talk about love of women, and many if not most of their fights arise from homosexual competition....Prominent men lend their sons to each other. All Siwans know the matings which have taken place among their sheiks and their sheiks' sons....Most of the boys used in sodomy are between twelve and eighteen years of age." In the late 1940s, a Siwan merchant told the visiting British novelist Robin Maugham that the Siwan men "will kill each other for boy. Never for a woman".

Americas

Dance to the Berdache
Sac and Fox Nation ceremonial dance to celebrate the two-spirit person. George Catlin (1796–1872); Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC

A few North American native tribes prior to European colonization believed in what they called a Two-Spirit individual. Typically this individual was recognized early in life, given a choice by the parents to follow the path and, if the child accepted the role, raised in the appropriate manner, learning the customs of the sex they had chosen. Two-Spirit individuals were commonly shamans and were revered as having powers beyond those of ordinary shamans. They had relations with members of the same sex.

American Native tribes had third-gender roles. These include "berdaches" (a derogatory term for males who assumed a feminine role) and "passing women" (genetic females who took on a masculine role). The term "berdache" is not a Native American word; rather it was a European definition covering a range of third-gender people in different tribes. Not all Native American tribes had transgender people.

Ancient Assyria

In the ancient Assyrian society, if a man were to have sex with another man of equal status or a cult prostitute, it was thought that trouble will leave him and he will have good fortune. Some ancient religious Assyrian texts contain prayers for divine blessings on homosexual relationships. There are depictions of anal intercourse, practiced as part of a religious ritual, dated from the 3rd millennium BC and onwards. Homosexuality was an integral part of temple life in parts of Mesopotamia, and no blame appears to have attached to its practice outside of worship. Some kings had male lovers — both Zimri-lin (king of Mari) and Hammurabi (king of Babylon) slept with men. Some Assyrian priests were homosexuals who cross-dressed. There were homosexual and transgender cult prostitutes, who took part in public processions; singing, dancing, wearing costumes, sometimes wearing women's clothes and carrying female symbols, even at times pretending to give birth.

Ancient Israel

The ancient Law of Moses (the Torah) forbids men lying with men (intercourse) in Leviticus 18 and gives a story of attempted homosexual rape in Genesis in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, the cities being soon destroyed after that. The death penalty was prescribed. In Deuteronomy 22:5, cross-dressing is condemned as being "abominable".

Middle Assyrian Law Codes dating 1075 BC states: "If a man have intercourse with his brother-in-arms, they shall turn him into a eunuch."

Ancient China

Main article: Homosexuality in China

A woman spying on a pair of male lovers. China, Qing Dynasty.

Homosexuality has been acknowledged in China since ancient times. Scholar Pan Guangdan (潘光旦) came to the conclusion that nearly every emperor in the Han Dynasty had one or more male sex partners. Homosexuality in China, known as the passions of the cut peach and various other euphemisms has been recorded since approximately 600 BCE. Homosexuality was mentioned in many famous works of Chinese literature.

The instances of same-sex affection and sexual interactions described in the classical novel Dream of the Red Chamber seem as familiar to observers in the present as do equivalent stories of romances between heterosexual people during the same period. Confucianism, being primarily a social and political philosophy, focused little on sexuality, whether homosexual or heterosexual. There are also descriptions of lesbians in some history books. It is believed homosexuality was popular in the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties.

Ancient India

Main article: Homosexuality in India

Throughout Hindu and Vedic texts there are many descriptions of saints, demigods, and even the Supreme Lord transcending gender norms and manifesting multiple combinations of sex and gender. There are several instances in ancient Indian epic poetry of same sex depictions and unions by gods and goddesses. There are several stories of depicting love between same sexes especially among kings and queens. Kamasutra, the ancient Indian treatise on love talks about feelings for same sexes. There are several depictions of same-sex sexual acts in temples like Khajuraho. Several Mughal noblemen and emperors and other Islamic rulers of South Asia are known to have had homosexual inclinations. In South Asia the Hijra are a caste of third-gender, or transgender group who live a feminine role. Hijra may be born male or intersex, and some may have been born female.

Ancient Japan

Main article: Homosexuality in Japan

In Japan, several Heian diaries which contain references to homosexual acts exist as well. Some of these also contain references to emperors involved in homosexual relationships and to "handsome boys retained for sexual purposes" by emperors. In other literary works can be found references to what Leupp has called "problems of gender identity", such as the story of a youth's falling in love with a girl who is actually a cross-dressing male. Japanese shunga are erotic pictures which include same-sex and opposite-sex love.

Ancient Persia

Further information: LGBT in Islam

Dance of a bacchá (dancing boy)
Samarkand, (ca 1905–1915), photo Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii. Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

In pre-modern Islam there was a "widespread conviction that beardless youths possessed a temptation to adult men as a whole, and not merely to a small minority of deviants." Muslim—often Sufi—poets in medieval Arab lands and in Persia wrote odes to the beautiful wine boys who served them in the taverns. In many areas the practice survived into modern times, as documented by Richard Francis Burton, André Gide, and others. Homoerotic themes were present in poetry and other literature written by some Muslims from the medieval period onwards and which celebrated love between men. In fact these were more common than expressions of attraction to women.

Persian poets, such as Sa'di (d. 1291), Hafiz (d. 1389), and Jami (d. 1492), wrote poems replete with homoerotic allusions. The two most commonly documented forms were commercial sex with transgender young women or males enacting transgender roles exemplified by the köçeks and the bacchás, and Sufi spiritual practices in which the practitioner admired the form of a beautiful boy in order to enter ecstatic states and glimpse the beauty of god.

Classical antiquity in Europe

Ancient Greece

Main article: Homosexuality in ancient Greece

It is a widespread fallacy that homosexuality was accepted or regarded as normal in ancient Greece. In fact there were more than a hundred independent city-states in Greece in this period and in most of them, including Athens, homosexual acts between freeborn males were illegal. The law made a strong distinction between adult "bearded" and adolescent "beardless" males. Homosexual relations could take place between an adult man and a slave or to a lesser extent with a freeborn youth although in the latter case penetration was not supposed to take place.

Male couple (erastes and eromenos) kissing (Attic red-figured cup, ca. 480 BC)

The adult man was called the erastes (lover) and the boy his eromenos (loved one). Their relationship was pederasty. The Greeks had no concept of a man who desired only other males and took it for granted that the erastes would also have a wife. As soon as the boy grew a beard, the relationship became illegal.

The only Greek city-state where homosexuality was completely legal was Sparta. This militaristic society kept the sexes apart almost all the time, and allowed adult men to maintain their relationship with a boy or younger man indefinitely. Marriages took place, in order to procreate, but as soon as the bride was pregnant, the couple would cease to cohabit.

It is often wrongly claimed that Plato praised homosexuality because one of the speakers in a dialogue he wrote the Symposium does so. In his later works he upheld its prohibition, in line with the laws of most contemporary Hellenic states. Aristotle, in the Politics, disagreed with Plato's ideas about abolishing homosexuality; he explains that barbarians like the Celts accorded it a special honor, while the Cretans used it to regulate the population.

Young women are depicted surrounding Sappho in this painting of Lafond "Sappho sings for Homer", 1824. It has no historical authority

Another fallacy is that Alexander the Great had a homosexual relationship with one of his generals Hephaestion. There is nothing in the ancient source-texts that proves this. It is sheer speculation.

Sappho, born on the island of Lesbos, was included by later Greeks in the canonical list of nine lyric poets. The adjectives deriving from her name and place of birth (Sapphic and Lesbian) came to be applied to female homosexuality beginning in the 19th century. Sappho's poetry centers mainly on celebrating marriage between a man and a woman. A few fragments of her poems speak of infatuations and love (sometimes requited, sometimes not) for a female, but there are no descriptions of physical acts between women .

Ancient Rome

Main article: Homosexuality in ancient Rome

Sappho reading to her companions on an Attic vase of c. 435 BC.

In Ancient Greece and Phrygia, and later in the Roman Republic, the Goddess Cybele was worshiped by a cult of people who castrated themselves, and thereafter took female dress and referred to themselves as female. These early transsexual figures have also been referred to as early gay role models by several authors.

In Ancient Rome the young male body remained a focus of male sexual attention, but relationships were between older free men and slaves or freed youths who took the receptive role in sex. All the emperors with the exception of Augustus and Claudius took male lovers. The Hellenophile emperor Hadrian is renowned for his relationship with a slave Antinous who had no choice in the matter and finally committed suicide.

In Roman patriarchal society, it was socially acceptable for an adult male citizen to take the penetrative role in same-sex relations. Freeborn male minors were strictly protected from sexual predators (see Lex Scantinia), and men who willingly played the "passive" role in homosexual relations were disparaged. No law or moral censure was directed against homosexual behaviors as such, as long as the citizen took the dominant role with a partner of lower status such as a slave, prostitute, or someone considered infamis, of no social standing.

The Roman emperor Elagabalus was a noted homosexual. Elagabalus was said to be "delighted to be called the mistress, the wife, the queen of Hierocles." Supposedly, great wealth was offered to any surgeon who was able to give Elagabalus female genitalia.

Attitudes toward homosexual behavior changed when the Empire fell under Christian rule; see for instance legislation of Justinian I.

Ancient Celts

According to Aristotle, although most "belligerent nations" were strongly influenced by their women, the Celts were unusual because their men openly preferred male lovers (Politics II 1269b). H. D. Rankin in Celts and the Classical World notes that "Athenaeus echoes this comment (603a) and so does Ammianus (30.9). It seems to be the general opinion of antiquity." In book XIII of his Deipnosophists, the Roman Greek rhetorician and grammarian Athenaeus, repeating assertions made by Diodorus Siculus in the 1st century BC (Bibliotheca historica 5:32), wrote that Celtic women were beautiful but that the men preferred to sleep together. Diodorus went further, stating that "the young men will offer themselves to strangers and are insulted if the offer is refused". Rankin argues that the ultimate source of these assertions is likely to be Poseidonius and speculates that these authors may be recording male "bonding rituals".

South Pacific

In many societies of Melanesia, especially in Papua New Guinea, same-sex relationships were, until the middle of the last century, an integral part of the culture. The Etoro and Marind-anim for example, even viewed heterosexuality as sinful and celebrated homosexuality instead. In many traditional Melanesian cultures a pre-pubertal boy would be paired with an older adolescent who would become his mentor and who would "inseminate" him (orally, anally, or topically, depending on the tribe) over a number of years in order for the younger to also reach puberty.

The Middle Ages

Main article: Homosexuality in medieval Europe

Christian doctrine forbade homosexuality and church courts could prosecute and impose severe sentences on male homosexual relations. Female was not usually considered so heinous. Thomas Aquinas argued that sodomy was second only to murder in the ranking of sins. In France, first-offending sodomites lost their testicles, second offenders lost their penis, and third offenders were burned. Women caught in same-sex acts could be mutilated and executed as well.

Persecutions against homosexuality reached their height during the Medieval Inquisitions, when the sects of Cathars and Waldensians were accused of fornication and sodomy, alongside accusations of satanism. In 1307, accusations of sodomy and homosexuality were major charges leveled during the Trial of the Knights Templar.

During the Renaissance, despite Christian disapproval, male homosexual practices, mainly pederastic, persisted in northern Italy—Florence and Venice.

The history of same-sex relations between women in medieval and early modern Europe is exceedingly difficult to study, but there can be no doubt of its existence. Church leaders worried about lesbian sex; women expressed, practiced, and were sometimes imprisoned or even executed for same-sex love; and some women cross-dressed in order to live with other women as married couples." They go on to note that even the seemingly modern word "lesbian" has been traced back as far as 1732, and discuss lesbian subcultures, but add, "Nevertheless, we certainly should not equate the single state with lesbian practices." While same-sex relationships among men were highly documented and condemned, "Moral theologians did not pay much attention to the question of what we would today call lesbian sex, perhaps because anything that did not involve a phallus did not fall within the bounds of their understanding of the sexual. Some legislation against lesbian relations can be adduced for the period, mainly involving the use of "instruments," in other words, dildoes."

The Renaissance

The ecclesiastical courts of the Roman Catholic Church imposed penalties in most European states including sometime the death penalty. Men were fined or jailed; boys were flogged. The harshest punishments, such as burning at the stake, were usually reserved for crimes committed against the very young, or by violence. The Spanish Inquisition which began in 1480, decreed sodomites should be stoned, castrated, and burned. Between 1540 and 1700, more than 1,600 people were prosecuted for sodomy. In 1532 the Holy Roman Empire made sodomy punishable by death. The following year King Henry VIII passed the Buggery Act 1533 making all male-male sexual activity punishable by death.

Florentine homosexuality

Florence had a widespread homosexual culture, which included age-structured relationships. In 1432 the city established Gli Ufficiali di Notte (The Officers of the Night) to root out the practice of sodomy. From that year until 1502, the number of men charged with sodomy numbered more than 17,000, of whom 3,000 were convicted. This number also included heterosexual sodomy. This also gave rise to a number of proverbs illuminating the views of the common people towards the practice; among them: "If you crave joys, tumble some boys."

Association of homosexuality with foreignness

The reputation of Florence is also reflected in the fact that the Germans adopted the word Florenzer to refer to a "sodomite". The association of foreignness with homosexuality gradually became a cornerstone of homophobic rhetoric throughout Europe, and it was used in a calumnious perspective. For example, the French would call "homosexuality" the "Italian vice" in the 16th and 17th centuries, the "English vice" in the 18th century, the mœurs orientales (oriental mores) in the 19th century, and the "German vice" starting from 1870 and into the 20th century.

Literature

The Church could not repress all expressions of homoerotic desire. One of the most famous examples is a tongue-in-cheek philosophic defense of the practice provided by Antonio Rocco, in his infamous L'Alcibiade, fanciullo a scola (Alcibiades the Schoolboy, in English) a dialogue in which a teacher seeks to use philosophy to persuade a male student to consent to a homosexual act. However, given the tongue-in-cheek nature of the writing, it seems unclear whether it is meant to be satire or genuine under the pretense of a joke.

Europe

See also: Timeline of LGBT history in Turkey

Psychology and terminology shifts

The developing field of psychology was the first way homosexuality could be directly addressed aside from Biblical condemnation. In Europe, homosexuality had been part of case studies since the 1790s with Johann Valentin Müller's work. The studies of this era tended to be rigorous examination of "criminals," looking to confirm guilt and establish patterns for future prosecutions. Ambroise Tardieu in France believed he could identify "pederasts" affirming that the sex organs are altered by homosexuality in his 1857 publishing. François Charles's exposé, Les Deux Prostitutions: études du pathologie sociale, (The Two Prostitutions: Study of the Social Pathology) developed methods for police to persecute through meticulous documentation of homosexuality. Others include Johann Caspar and Otto Westphal, Karl Ulrichs. Krafft-Ebing's 1886 publication, Psychopathia Sexualis,was the most widely translated work of this kind. He and Ulrichs believed that homosexuality was congenitally based, but Krafft-Ebing differed; in that, he asserted that homosexuality was a symptom of other psychopathic behavior that he viewed to be an inherited disposition to degeneracy.

Degeneracy became widely acknowledged theory for homosexuality during the 1870s and 80s. It spoke to the eugenic and social Darwin theories of the late 19th Century. Benedict Augustin Morel is considered the father of degeneracy theory. His theories posit that physical, intellectual, and moral abnormalities come from disease, urban over-population, malnutrition, alcohol, and other failures of his contemporary society.

An important shift in the terminology of homosexuality was brought about by the development of psychology's inquisition into homosexuality. "Contrary sexual feeling," as Westphal's phrased, and the word "homosexual" itself made their way into the Western lexicons. Homosexuality had a name aside from the ambiguous term "sodomy" and the elusive "abomination." As Michel Foucault phrases, "the sodomite had been a temporary aberration; the homosexual was now a species."

An addendum to the terminology of homosexuality is the seemingly ever-changing acronym, with its roots in the 1980s when female homosexuals began to identify themselves as lesbians instead of gay. This led to references of "gay and lesbian" every time homosexuals were discussed in the media. Non-heterosexuals such as bisexual people and those who are transgender have also been classed alongside gay people and lesbians, resulting in the popular LGBT acronym (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender). However, the acronym is not set in stone; it has sometimes appeared as LGBTQ (to include queer) or even as LGBTQA+ (to include queer, asexuality, and others that fall under the umbrella term of queer).

Homosexuality in eighteenth-century Great Britain

Main article: Timeline of LGBT history in Britain

Molly houses appeared in 18th century London and other large cities. A Molly house is an archaic 18th century English term for a tavern or private room where homosexual and cross-dressing men could meet each other and possible sexual partners. Patrons of the Molly house would sometimes enact mock weddings, sometimes with the bride giving birth. Margaret Clap (?—circa 1726), better known as Mother Clap, ran such a Molly house from 1724 to 1726 in Holborn, London. She was also heavily involved in the ensuing legal battles after her premise was raided and shut down. Molly houses were perhaps the first precursors to the modern gay bar.

Decriminalization of homosexuality in France

In 1791, Revolutionary France (and Andorra) adopted a new penal code which no longer criminalized sodomy. France thus became the first West European country to decriminalize homosexual acts between consenting adults.

The emancipation movement in Germany, 1890s–1934

Vita homosexualis, a 1902 collection of August Fleischmann’s popular pamphlets on third gender and against §175 - a Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee library copy, confiscated on 6 May 1933, annotated on the endpaper: By Reichspräsident’s decree of 28.2.1933 destined for destruction! and hidden from the publique (label "Secr.") as Nazi plunder by the Prussian State Library.

Prior to the Third Reich, Berlin was a liberal city, with many gay bars, nightclubs and cabarets. There were even many drag bars where tourists straight and gay would enjoy female impersonation acts. Hitler decried cultural degeneration, prostitution and syphilis in his book Mein Kampf, blaming at least some of the phenomena on Jews.

Berlin also had the most active LGBT rights movements in the world at the time. Jewish doctor Magnus Hirschfeld had co-founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Committee (Wissenschaftlich-humanitäres Komitee, WhK) in Berlin in 1897 to campaign against the notorious "Paragraph 175" of the Penal Code that made sex between men illegal. It also sought social recognition of homosexual and transgender men and women. It was the first public gay rights organization. The Committee had branches in several other countries, thereby being the first international GLBT organization, although on a small scale. In 1919, Hirschfeld had also co-founded the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (Institute for Sex Research), a private sexology research institute. It had a research library and a large archive, and included a marriage and sex counseling office. In addition, the institute was a pioneer worldwide in the call for civil rights and social acceptance for homosexual and transgender people.

See also: Friedrich Radszuweit, Adolf Brand, Selli Engler, Anna Rüling, Mädchen in Uniform (1931 film), Die Freundin, and Institut für Sexualwissenschaft

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde, the Irish author and playwright played an important role in bringing homosexuality into the public eye. The scandal in British society and subsequent court case from 1895–6 was highly discussed not only in Europe, but also in America, although newspapers like the New York Times concentrated on the question of blackmail, only alluding to the homosexual aspects as having "a curious meaning," in the first publication on April 4, 1895. After Wilde's arrest, the April 6 New York Times discussed Wilde's case as a question of "immorality" and did not specifically address homosexuality, discussing the men "some as young as 18" that were brought up as witnesses.

United States of America

Main article: LGBT history in the United States

See also: History of bisexuals in the United States, History of gay men in the United States, History of lesbians in the United States, and History of transgender people in the United States

18th and 19th century

Before the American Civil War and the massive population growth of the Post-Civil War America, the majority of the American population was rural. Homosexuality remained unseen and taboo concept in society, and the word "homosexuality" was not coined until 1868 by German-Hungarian Karoly Maria Kertbeny (who advocated decriminalization). During this era, homosexuality fell under the umbrella term "sodomy" that comprised all forms of nonproductive sexuality (masturbation and oral sex were sometimes excluded). Without urban sub-cultures or a name for self-definition, group identification and self-consciousness was unlikely.

Mainstream interpretation of Leviticus 20:13, Romans 1:26–7 and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah were the justification for the severe penalties facing those accused of "sodomy." Most of the laws around homosexuality in the colonies were derived from the English laws of "buggery," and the punishment in all American colonies was death. The penalty for attempted sodomy (both homosexuality and bestiality) was prison, whipping, banishment, or fines. Thomas Jefferson suggested castration as the punishment for sodomy, rape, and polygamy in a proposed revision of the Virginia criminal code near the end of the 18th century.

Pennsylvania was the first state to repeal the death penalty for "sodomy" in 1786 and within a generation all the other colonies followed suit (except North and South Carolina that repealed after the Civil War). Along with the removal of the death penalty during this generation, legal language shifted away from that of damnation to more dispassionate terms like "unmentionable" or "abominable" acts. Aside from sodomy and "attempted sodomy" court cases and a few public scandals, homosexuality was seen as peripheral in mainstream society. Lesbianism had no legal definition largely given Victorian notions of female sexuality.

A survey of sodomy law enforcement during the nineteenth century suggests that a significant minority of cases did not specify the gender of the "victim" or accused. Most cases were argued as non-consensual or rape. The first prosecution for consensual sex between people of the same gender was not until 1880. In response to increasing visibility of alternative genders, gender bending, and homosexuality, a host of laws against vagrancy, public indecency, disorderly conduct, and indecent exposure was introduced across the United States. "Sodomy" laws also shifted in many states over the beginning of the twentieth century to address homosexuality specifically (many states during the twentieth century made heterosexual anal intercourse legal). In some states, these laws would last until they were repealed by the federal governmentin 2004 with the Lawrence decision.

Male ideal and the 19th century

Homosexual identity found its first social foothold in the 19th Century not in sexuality or homoerotica, but in idealized conception of the wholesome and loving male friendship during the 19th Century. Or as contemporary author Theodore Winthrop in Cecil Dreeme writes, "a friendship I deemed more precious than the love of women." This ideal came from and was enforced by the male-centric institutions of boy's boarding schools, all-male colleges, the military, the frontier, etc. – fictional and non-fiction accounts of passionate male friendships became a theme present in American Literature and social conceptions of masculinity.

New York, as America's largest city exponentially growing during the 19th Century (doubling from 1800–20 and again by 1840 to a population of 300,000), saw the beginnings of a homosexual subculture concomitantly growing with the population. Continuing the theme of loving male friendship, the American poet, Walt Whitman arrived in New York in 1841. He was immediately drawn to young working class men found in certain parks, public baths, the docks, and some bars and dance halls. He kept records of the men and boys, usually noting their ages, physical characteristics, jobs, and origins. Dispersed in his praise of the city are moments of male admiration, such as in Calamus— "frequent and swift flash of eyes offering me robust, athletic love" or in poem Crossing Brooklyn Ferry, where he writes:

"Was call'd by my nighest name by clear loud voices of young men as they saw me / approaching or passing, / Felt their arms on my neck as I stood, or the negligent leaning of their flesh against me as / I sat, / Saw many I loved in the street or ferry-boat or public assembly, yet never told them a / word, / Lived the same life with the rest, the same old laughing, gnawing, sleeping, / Play'd the part that still looks back on the actor or actress, / The same old role, the role that is what we make it, as great as we like, / Or as small as we like, or both great and small."

Sometimes Whitman's writing verged on explicit, such as in his poem, Native Moments— "I share the midnight orgies of young men / I pick out some low person for my dearest friend. He shall be lawless, rude, illiterate." Poems like these and Calamus (inspired by Whitman's treasured friends and possible lover, Fred Vaughan who lived with the Whitman family in the 1850s) and the general theme of manly love, functioned as a pseudonym for homosexuality. The developing sub-community had a coded voice to draw more homosexuals to New York and other growing American urban centers. Whitman did, however, in 1890 denounce any sexuality in the comradeship of his works and historians debate whether he a practicing homosexual, bisexual, etc. But this denouncement shows that homosexuality had become a public question by the end of the 19th Century.

Twenty years after Whitman came to New York, Horatio Alger continued the theme of manly love in his stories of the young Victorian self-made man. He came to New York fleeing from a public scandal with a young man in Cape Cod that forced him to leave the ministry, in 1866.

Late 19th century

We'wha was a relatively modern Ihamana (Two-Spirit) of the Native American Zuni tribe. She made a trip to Washington in 1886, and later shook President Roosevelt's hand. She was revered by her tribe for her skill at weaving and pottery, as well as taking part in community ceremonies and rituals. Her life was originally documented by anthropologist Matilda Coxe Stevenson in the late 19th century.

Early 20th century

In 1908, the first American defense of homosexuality was published. The Intersexes: A History of Similisexualism as a Problem in Social Life, was written by Edward Stevenson under the pseudonym Xavier Mayne. This 600-page defense detailed Classical examples, but also modern literature and the homosexual subcultures of urban life. He dedicated the novel to Krafft-Ebing because he argued homosexuality was inherited and, in Stevenson's view and not necessarily Krafft-Ebing's, should not face prejudice. He also wrote one of the first homosexual novels— Imre: A Memorandum. Also in this era, the earliest known open homosexual in the United States, Claude Hartland, wrote an account of his sexual history. He affirmed that he wrote it to affront the naivety surrounding sexuality. It was in response to the ignorance he saw while being treated by doctors and psychologists that failed to "cure" him. Hartland wished his attraction to men could be solely "spiritual," but could not escape the "animal."

By this time, society was slowly becoming aware of the homosexual subculture. In an 1898 lecture in Massachusetts, a doctor gave a lecture on this development in modern cities. With a population around three million at the turn of the 20th century, New York's queer subculture had a strong sense of self-definition and began redefining itself on its own terms. "Middle class queer," "fairies," were among the terminology of the underground world of the Lower East Side. But with this growing public presence, backlash occurred. The YMCA, who ironically promoted a similar image to that of the Whitman's praise of male brotherhood and athletic prowess, took a chief place in the purity campaigns of the epoch. Anthony Comstock, a salesman and leader of YMCA in Connecticut and later head of his own New York Society for the Suppression of Vice successfully pressed Congress and many state legislatures to pass strict censorship laws. Ironically, the YMCA became a site of homosexual conduct. In 1912, a scandal hit Oregon where more than 50 men, many prominent in the community were arrested for homosexual activity. In reaction to this scandal conflicting with public campaigns, YMCA leadership began to look the other way on this conduct.

1920s

File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1983-0121-500, Berlin, Bar "Eldorado".jpg

The Gay Club Eldorado in Berlin

Sheet music poking fun at the masculine traits many women adopted during the 1920s.

Berlin was the leading city for homosexuals during the 1920s with clubs and even newspapers for both lesbians and gay men. The lesbian magazine Die Freundin was started by Friedrich Radszuweit and the gay men magazine Der Eigene had already started in 1896 as the world's first gay magazine. The first gay demonstration ever took place in Nollendorfplatz in 1922 in Berlin, gathering 400 homosexuals. The homosexual doctor Magnus Hirschfeld did many things to improve the situation for gays. Berlin was well known as the decadent city during the 1920s.

The 1920s ushered in a new era of social acceptance of minorities and homosexuals, at least in heavily urbanized areas. This was reflected in many of the films (see Pre-Code) of the decade that openly made references to homosexuality. Even popular songs poked fun at the new social acceptance of homosexuality. One of these songs had the title "Masculine Women, Feminine Men." It was released in 1926 and recorded by numerous artists of the day and included the following lyrics:

Masculine women, Feminine men

Which is the rooster, which is the hen?
It's hard to tell 'em apart today! And, say!
Sister is busy learning to shave,
Brother just loves his permanent wave,
It's hard to tell 'em apart today! Hey, hey!
Girls were girls and boys were boys when I was a tot,
Now we don't know who is who, or even what's what!
Knickers and trousers, baggy and wide,
Nobody knows who's walking inside,

Those masculine women and feminine men!

Homosexuals received a level of acceptance that was not seen again until the 1960s. Until the early 1930s, gay clubs were openly operated, commonly known as "pansy clubs". The relative liberalism of the decade is demonstrated by the fact that the actor William Haines, regularly named in newspapers and magazines as the number-one male box-office draw, openly lived in a gay relationship with his lover, Jimmie Shields. Other popular gay actors/actresses of the decade included Alla Nazimova and Ramon Novarro. In 1927, Mae West wrote a play about homosexuality called The Drag, and alluded to the work of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs. It was a box-office success. West regarded talking about sex as a basic human rights issue, and was also an early advocate of gay rights. With the return of conservatism in the 1930s, the public grew intolerant of homosexuality, and gay actors were forced to choose between retiring or agreeing to hide their sexuality.

Late 1930s

By 1935, the United States had become conservative once again. Victorian values and mores, which had been widely ridiculed during the 1920s became fashionable once again. During this period life was harsh for homosexuals as they were forced to hide their behavior and identity in order to escape ridicule and even imprisonment. Many laws were passed against homosexuals during this period and it was declared to be a mental illness. Many police forces conducted operations to arrest homosexuals by using young undercover cops to get them to make propositions to them.

WWII and the Holocaust

Main article: Persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust

1943 Painting of a World War II WAC Air Controller artist: Dan V. Smith

As the US entered World War II in 1941, women were provided opportunities to volunteer for their country and almost 250,000 women served in the armed forces, mostly in the Women's Army Corps (WAC), two-thirds of whom were single and under the age of twenty-five. Women were recruited with posters showing muscular, short-haired women wearing tight-fitting tailored uniforms. Many lesbians joined the WAC to meet other women and to do men's work. Few were rejected for lesbianism, and found that being strong or having masculine appearance – characteristics associated with homosexual women – aided in the work as mechanics and motor vehicle operators. A popular Fleischmann's Yeast advertisement showed a WAC riding a motorcycle with the heading This is no time to be frail. Some recruits appeared at their inductions wearing men's clothing and their hair slicked back in the classic butch style of out lesbians of the time. Post-war many women including lesbians declined opportunities to return to traditional gender roles and helped redefine societal expectations that fed the women's, black and gay liberation movements. The war effort greatly shifted American culture and by extension representations in entertainment of both the nuclear family and LGBT people. In mostly same sex quarters service members were more easily able to express their interests and find willing partners of all sexualities.

During The Holocaust about 50,000 people were sentenced because of their homosexuality and several thousands of them died in concentration camps. Outside of the gay community, this persecution of homosexuals is usually ignored. Conditions for gay men in the camps was especially rough; they faced not only persecution from German soldiers, but also other prisoners, and many gay men were reported to die of beatings. German soldiers were also known to use the pink triangles that the men were forced to wear for target practice with their weapons. Female homosexuality was not, technically, a crime and thus gay women were generally not treated as harshly as gay men. Although there are some scattered reports that gay women were sometimes imprisoned for their sexuality, most would have been imprisoned for other reasons, i.e. "anti-social".

By the 1930s both fruit and fruitcake terms as well as numerous other words are seen as not only negative but also to mean male homosexual, although probably not universally. LGBT people were widely diagnosed as diseased with the potential for being cured, thus were regularly "treated" with castration, lobotomies, pudic nerve surgery, and electroshock treatment. so transferring the meaning of fruitcake, nutty, to someone who is deemed insane, or crazy, may have seemed rational at the time and many apparently believed that LGBT people were mentally unsound. In the United States, psychiatric institutions ("mental hospitals") where many of these procedures were carried out were called fruitcake factories while in 1960s Australia they were called fruit factories. From 1942 to 1947, WWII conscientious objectors in the US assigned to psychiatric hospitals under Civilian Public Service exposed abuses throughout the psychiatric care system and were instrumental in reforms of the 1940s and 1950s.

The view of homosexuality as the mark of a deviant mind was not limited to the psychiatric wards of hospitals but also the courts. An extremely famous case was that of Alan Turing, a British mathematician and theoretician. During WWII, Turing worked at Bletchley Park and was one of the major architects of the Colossus computer, designed to break the Enigma codes of the Nazi war machine. For the success of this, he received the Order of the British Empire in 1945. Unfortunately, in spite of all his brilliance and the services rendered to his country, Turing was also openly homosexual and in the early 1950s this fact came to the attention of the British government when he was arrested under section 11 of an 1885 statute of "gross indecency". At the time there was great fear that Turing's sexuality could be exploited by Soviet spies, and so he was sentenced to choosing between jail and injections of synthetic estrogen. The choice of the latter lead him to massive depression and committing suicide at the age of 41, biting into a poisoned apple. It is estimated that an additional 50-75,000 men were persecuted under this law, with only partial repeal taking place in 1967 and the final measure of it in 2003.

Stonewall riots

Main article: Stonewall riots

Although the June 28, 1969, Stonewall riots are generally considered the starting point of the modern gay liberation movement, a number of demonstrations and actions took place before that date. These actions, often organized by local homophile organizations but sometimes spontaneous, addressed concerns ranging from anti-gay discrimination in employment and public accommodations to the exclusion of homosexuals from the United States military to police harassment to the treatment of homosexuals in revolutionary Cuba. The early actions have been credited with preparing the LGBT community for Stonewall and contributing to the riots' symbolic power. See: List of LGBT actions in the United States prior to the Stonewall riots

In the autumn of 1959, the police force of New York City's Wagner administration began closing down the city's gay bars, which had numbered almost two dozen in Manhattan at the beginning of the year. This crackdown was largely the result of a sustained campaign by the right-wing NY Mirror newspaper columnist Lee Mortimer. Existing gay bars were quickly closed and new ones lasted only a short time. The election of John Lindsay in 1965 signaled a major shift in city politics, and a new attitude toward sexual mores began changing the social atmosphere of New York. On April 21, 1966, Dick Leitsch, president of the New York Mattachine Society and two other members staged the Sip-in at Julius bar on West 10th Street in Greenwich Village. This resulted in the anti-gay accommodation rules of the NY State Liquor Authority being overturned in subsequent court actions. These SLA provisions declared that it was illegal for homosexuals to congregate and be served alcoholic beverages in bars. An example of when these laws had been upheld is in 1940 when Gloria's, a bar that had been closed for such violations, fought the case in court and lost. Prior to this change in the law, the business of running a gay bar had to involve paying bribes to the police and Mafia. As soon as the law was altered, the SLA ceased closing legally licensed gay bars and such bars could no longer be prosecuted for serving gays and lesbians. Mattachine pressed this advantage very quickly and Mayor Lindsay was confronted with the issue of police entrapment in gay bars, resulting in this practice being stopped. On the heels of this victory, the mayor cooperated in getting questions about homosexuality removed from NYC hiring practices. The police and fire departments resisted the new policy, however, and refused to cooperate. The result of these changes in the law, combined with the open social- and sexual-attitudes of the late Sixties, led to the increased visibility of gay life in New York. Several licensed gay bars were in operation in Greenwich Village and the Upper West Side, as well as illegal, unlicensed places serving alcohol, such as the Stonewall Inn and the Snakepit, both in Greenwich Village. The Stonewall riots were a series of violent conflicts between gay men, drag queens, transsexuals, and butch lesbians against a police officer raid in New York City. The first night of rioting began on Friday, June 27, 1969 at about 1:20 am, when police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar operating without a state license in Greenwich Village. Stonewall is considered a turning point for the modern gay rights movement worldwide. Newspaper coverage of the events was minor in the city, since, in the Sixties, huge marches and mass rioting had become commonplace and the Stonewall disturbances were relatively small. It was the commemorative march one year later, organized by the impetus of Craig Rodwell, owner of the Oscar Wilde Book Shop, which drew 5,000 marchers up New York City's Sixth Avenue, that drew nationwide publicity and put the Stonewall events on the historical map and led to the modern-day pride marches. A new period of liberalism in the late 1960s began a new era of more social acceptance for homosexuality which lasted until the late 1970s. In the 1970s, the popularity of disco music and its culture in many ways made society more accepting of gays and lesbians. Late in 1979, a new religious revival ushered in the conservatism that would reign in the United States during the 1980s and made life hard once again for LGBT people.

Decriminalization of homosexuality (1961–2003)

The first US state to decriminalize homosexuality was Illinois in 1961. It was not until 1969 that another state would follow (Connecticut), but the 1970s and 80s saw the decriminalization throughout the majority of the United States. The 14 states that did not repeal these laws until 2003 were forced to by the landmark United States Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas.

States, territories, and federal district	Year
American Samoa	1889
Illinois	1961
Connecticut	1969
Colorado, Oregon	1971
Hawaii	1972
Delaware, North Dakota	1973
Massachusetts, Ohio	1974
New Hampshire, New Mexico, Washington	1975
California, Guam, Indiana, Maine, South Dakota, Ohio, West Virginia	1976
Vermont, Wyoming	1977
Alaska, Iowa, Nebraska, New Jersey	1978
Pennsylvania, New York	1980
Northern Mariana Islands, Wisconsin	1983
Virgin Islands	1984
Michigan (Wayne County only)	1990
Kentucky	1992
District of Columbia, Nevada	1993
Montana, Tennessee	1996
Georgia, Rhode Island	1998
Maryland, Missouri (Western District counties only)	1999
New York (applied to New York National Guard)	2000
Minnesota, Arizona	2001
Arkansas	2002
Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia	2003
United States Armed Forces	2011

1980s

The 1980s in LGBT history are marked with the emergence of HIV. During the early period of the outbreak of HIV, the epidemic of HIV was commonly linked to gay men.

In the 1980s a renewed conservative movement spawned a new anti-gay movement in the United States, particularly with the help of the Religious Right (Evangelicals in particular). While it is a common belief within some circles of the LGBT community that Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush were vehemently anti-gay, some others believe that this is an extreme exaggeration. Ronald Reagan spoke up for gay equality as early as 1978, when he came out against Proposition 6, a ballot initiative that would have dismissed California teachers who "advocated" homosexuality, even off-campus. As President, he allocated 5.727 Billion dollars from 1982 until 1989 for AIDS research. Socially, the Reagans were well known for being tolerant of homosexual men. Robert G. Kaiser's news story in the March 18, 1984, Washington Post. "The Reagans are also tolerant about homosexual men," Kaiser wrote. "Their interior decorator, Ted Graber, who oversaw the redecoration of the White House, spent a night in the Reagans' private White House quarters with his male lover, Archie Case, when they came to Washington for Nancy Reagan's 60th birthday party — a fact confirmed for the press by Mrs. Reagan's press secretary." However, by the later part of the decade the general public started to show more sympathy and even tolerance for gay men as the toll for AIDS related deaths continued to rise to include heterosexuals as well as cultural icons such as Rock Hudson and Liberace, who also died from the condition. Also, despite the more conservative period, life in general for gays and lesbians was considerably better in contrast to the pre-Stonewall era.

Testifying to improved conditions, a 1991 Wall Street Journal survey found that homosexuals, in comparison with average Americans, were three times more likely to be college graduates, three times more likely to hold professional or managerial positions, with average salaries $30,000 higher than the norm.

Same-sex marriage

Main article: Same-sex marriage

Worldwide laws regarding same-sex intercourse/freedom of expression and association

	Same-sex intercourse legal		Same-sex intercourse illegal
	Marriage1		Illegal for male same-sex intercourse, female same-sex intercourse legal, although no arrests for same-sex intercourse for the last three years
	Marriage recognized but not performed1		Illegal for male and female same-sex intercourse, although no arrests for same-sex intercourse for the last three years/moratorium
	Civil unions1		Imprisonment for male same-sex intercourse, female same-sex intercourse legal
	Unregistered cohabitation1		Imprisonment for male and female same-sex intercourse
	Same-sex unions not recognized		Up to life in prison for male same-sex intercourse, female same-sex intercourse legal
	Laws restricting freedom of expression and association		Up to life in prison for male and female same-sex intercourse
			Up to death for male same-sex intercourse, female same-sex intercourse legal
			Up to death for male and female same-sex intercourse

Rings indicate areas where local judges have granted/denied marriages or imposed the death penalty in a jurisdiction where that is not otherwise the law and/or areas with a case-by-case application.
¹Some jurisdictions in this category may currently have other types of partnerships.

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, there has been a growing movement in a number of countries to regard marriage as a right which should be extended to same-sex couples. Legal recognition of a marital union opens up a wide range of entitlements, including social security, taxation, inheritance and other benefits unavailable to couples unmarried in the eyes of the law. Restricting legal recognition to opposite-sex couples prevents same-sex couples from gaining access to the legal benefits of marriage. Though certain rights can be replicated by legal means other than marriage (for example, by drawing-up contracts), many cannot, such as inheritance, hospital visitation and immigration. Lack of legal recognition also makes it more difficult for same-sex couples to adopt children.

The first country to legalize same-sex marriages was the Netherlands (2001), while the first marriages were performed in the Amsterdam city hall on April 1, 2001. As of August 2013, same-sex marriages are legal nationally in seventeen countries: the Netherlands (2001), Belgium (2003), Spain and Canada (2005), South Africa (2006), Norway and Sweden (2009), Portugal, Iceland and Argentina (2010), Denmark (2012), Brazil, France, Uruguay, New Zealand (2013), United Kingdom (without Northern Ireland) and Luxembourg (2014). In Mexico, same-sex marriage is recognized in all states, but performed only in Mexico City, where it became effective on March 4, 2010.

Same-sex marriage was effectively legalized in the United States on June 26, 2015 following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. Prior to Obergefell, lower court decisions, state legislation, and popular referendums had already legalized same-sex marriage to some degree in 38 out of 50 U.S. states, comprising about 70% of the U.S. population. Federal benefits were previously extended to lawfully married same-sex couples following the Supreme Court's June 2013 decision in United States v. Windsor.

Student groups

Main article: Gay–straight alliance

Since the mid-1970s students at high schools and universities have organized LGBT groups, often called Gay-Straight Alliances (GSAs) at their respective schools. The groups form to provide support for LGBT students and to promote awareness of LGBT issues in the local community. In 1990, a student group named The Other Ten Percentile (Hebrew: העשירון האחר) was founded by a group of teachers and students in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, becoming the first LGBT organization in Jerusalem. Frequently, such groups have been banned or prohibited from meeting or receiving the same recogniztion as other student groups. For example, in September 2006, Touro University California briefly attempted to ban the school's GSA, the Touro University Gay-Straight Alliance. After student demonstrations and an outcry of support from the American Medical Student Association, the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association and the Vallejo City Council, Touro University retracted its revocation of the school's GSA. The university went on to reaffirm its commitment to non-discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Schools

Several public schools have opened with a specific mission to create a "safe" place for LGBT students and allies, including Harvey Milk High School in New York City, and The Alliance School of Milwaukee. The Social Justice High School-Pride Campus is proposed for Chicago, and a number of private schools have also identified as "gay friendly", such as the Elisabeth Irwin High School in New York City.

In 2012, for the first time, two American school districts celebrated LGBT History Month; the Broward County school district in Florida signed a resolution in September in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans, and later that year the Los Angeles school district, America's second-largest, also signed on.

Historical study of homosexuality

19th century and early 20th century

When Heinrich Hoessli and K. H. Ulrichs began their pioneering homosexual scholarship in the late 19th century, they found little in the way of comprehensive historical data, except for material from ancient Greece and Islam. Some other information was added by the English scholars Richard Burton and Havelock Ellis. In German Albert Moll published a volume containing lists of famous homosexuals. By the end of the century, however, when the Berlin Scientific-Humanitarian Committee was formed it was realised that a comprehensive bibliographical search must be undertaken. The results of this inquiry were incorporated into the volumes of the Jahrbuch fur sexualle Zwischenstufen and Magnus_Hirschfeld's Die Homoexualitat des Mannes und des Weibes (1914). The Great Depression and the rise of Nazism put a stop to most serious homosexual research.

1950s and 1960s

As part of the growth of the contemporary gay movement in Southern California, a number of historical articles made their way into such movement periodicals as The Ladder, Mattachine Review, and One Quarterly. In France Aracadie under the editorship of Marc Daniel published a considerable amount of historical material. Almost without exception, university scholars were afraid to touch the subject. As a result, much of the work was done by autodidacts toiling under less than ideal conditions. Since most of this scholarship was done under movement auspices, it tended to reflect relevant concerns; compiling a brief of injustices and biographical sketches of exemplary gay men and women of the past (for example who?).

The atmosphere of the 1960s changed things. The sexual revolution made human sexuality an appropriate object of research. A new emphasis on social and intellectual history appeared, stemming in large measure from the group around the French periodical Annales. Although several useful syntheses of the world history of homosexuality have appeared, much material, especially from Islam, China and other non-Western cultures has not yet been properly studied and published, so that undoubtedly these will be superseded.

Ancient Celts

According to Aristotle, although most "belligerent nations" were strongly influenced by their women, the Celts were unusual because their men openly preferred male lovers (Politics II 1269b). H. D. Rankin in Celts and the Classical World notes that "Athenaeus echoes this comment (603a) and so does Ammianus (30.9). It seems to be the general opinion of antiquity." In book XIII of his Deipnosophists, the Roman Greek rhetorician and grammarian Athenaeus, repeating assertions made by Diodorus Siculus in the 1st century BC (Bibliotheca historica 5:32), wrote that Celtic women were beautiful but that the men preferred to sleep together. Diodorus went further, stating that "the young men will offer themselves to strangers and are insulted if the offer is refused". Rankin argues that the ultimate source of these assertions is likely to be Poseidonius and speculates that these authors may be recording male "bonding rituals".

Ancient India

Throughout Hindu and Vedic texts there are many descriptions of saints, demigods, and even the Supreme Lord transcending gender norms and manifesting multiple combinations of sex and gender. There are several instances in ancient Indian epic poetry of same sex depictions and unions by gods and goddesses. There are several stories of depicting love between same sexes especially among kings and queens. Kamasutra, the ancient Indian treatise on love talks about feelings for same sexes. Transsexuals are also venerated e.g. Lord Vishnu as Mohini and Lord Shiva as Ardhanarishwara (which means half woman).

Ancient West Asia

Ancient Israel

The ancient Law of Moses (the Torah) forbids men lying with men (intercourse) in Leviticus 18 and gives a story of attempted homosexual rape in Genesis in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, the cities being soon destroyed after that. The death penalty was prescribed. In Deuteronomy 22:5, cross-dressing is condemned as being "abominable".

Ancient Persia

In Persia homosexuality and homoerotic expressions were tolerated in numerous public places, from monasteries and seminaries to taverns, military camps, bathhouses, and coffee houses. In the early Safavid era (1501–1723), male houses of prostitution (amrad khane) were legally recognized and paid taxes. Persian poets, such as Sa’di (d. 1291), Hafiz (d. 1389), and Jami (d. 1492), wrote poems replete with homoerotic allusions. The two most commonly documented forms were commercial sex with transgender young males or males enacting transgender roles exemplified by the köçeks and Sufi spiritual practices in which the practitioner admired the form of a beautiful boy in order to enter ecstatic states and glimpse the beauty of God.

Ancient Mesopotamia

Middle Assyrian Law Codes dating 1075 BC states: "If a man have(sic) intercourse with his brother-in-arms, they shall turn him into a eunuch."

Ancient Rome

The "conquest mentality" of the ancient Romans shaped Roman homosexual practices. In the Roman Republic, a citizen's political liberty was defined in part by the right to preserve his body from physical compulsion or use by others; for the male citizen to submit his body to the giving of pleasure was considered servile. As long as a man played the penetrative role, it was socially acceptable and considered natural for him to have same-sex relations, without a perceived loss of his masculinity or social standing. The bodies of citizen youths were strictly off-limits, and the Lex Scantinia imposed penalites on those who committed a sex crime (stuprum) against a freeborn male minor. Acceptable same-sex partners were males excluded from legal protections as citizens: slaves, male prostitutes, and the infames, entertainers or others who might be technically free but whose lifestyles set them outside the law.

"Homosexual" and "heterosexual" were thus not categories of Roman sexuality, and no words exist in Latin that would precisely translate these concepts. A male citizen who willingly performed oral sex or received anal sex was disparaged, but there is only limited evidence of legal penalties against these men, who were presumably "homosexual" in the modern sense. In courtroom and political rhetoric, charges of effeminacy and passive sexual behaviors were directed particularly at "democratic" politicians (populares) such as Julius Caesar and Mark Antony.

Roman law addressed the rape of a male citizen as early as the 2nd century BC, when a ruling was issued in a case that may have involved a man of same-sex orientation. It was ruled that even a man who was "disreputable and questionable" had the same right as other citizens not to have his body subjected to forced sex. A law probably dating to the dictatorship of Julius Caesar defined rape as forced sex against "boy, woman, or anyone"; the rapist was subject to execution, a rare penalty in Roman law. A male classified as infamis, such as a prostitute or actor, could not as a matter of law be raped, nor could a slave, who was legally classified as property; the slave's owner, however, could prosecute the rapist for property damage.

In the Roman army of the Republic, sex among fellow soldiers violated the decorum against intercourse with citizens and was subject to harsh penalties, including death, as a violation of military discipline. The Greek historian Polybius (2nd century BC) lists deserters, thieves, perjurers, and "those who in youth have abused their persons" as subject to the fustuarium, clubbing to death. Ancient sources are most concerned with the effects of sexual harassment by officers, but the young soldier who brought an accusation against his superior needed to show that he had not willingly taken the passive role or prostituted himself. Soldiers were free to have relations with their male slaves; the use of a fellow citizen-soldier's body was prohibited, not homosexual behaviors per se. By the late Republic and throughout the Imperial period, there is increasing evidence that men whose lifestyle marked them as "homosexual" in the modern sense served openly.

Although Roman law did not recognize marriage between men, and in general Romans regarded marriage as a heterosexual union with the primary purpose of producing children, in the early Imperial period some male couples were celebrating traditional marriage rites. Juvenal remarks with disapproval that his friends often attended such ceremonies. The emperor Nero had two marriages to men, once as the bride (with a freedman Pythagoras) and once as the groom. His consort Sporus appeared in public as Nero's wife wearing the regalia that was customary for the Roman empress.

Apart from measures to protect the prerogatives of citizens, the prosecution of homosexuality as a general crime began in the 3rd century of the Christian era when male prostitution was banned by Philip the Arab. By the end of the 4th century, after the Roman Empire had come under Christian rule, passive homosexuality was punishable by burning. "Death by sword" was the punishment for a "man coupling like a woman" under the Theodosian Code. Under Justinian, all same-sex acts, passive or active, no matter who the partners, were declared contrary to nature and punishable by death.

Congo

E. E. Evans-Pritchard recorded that in the past male Azande warriors in the northern Congo routinely took on young male lovers between the ages of twelve and twenty, who helped with household tasks and participated in intercrural sex with their older husbands. The practice had died out by the early 20th century, after Europeans had gained control of African countries, but was recounted to Evans-Pritchard by the elders to whom he spoke.

Feudal Japan

In feudal Japan, homosexuality was recognized, between equals (bi-do), in terms of pederasty (wakashudo), and in terms of prostitution. The younger partner in a pederastic relationship often was expected to make the first move; the opposite was true in ancient Greece. In religious circles, same-sex love spread to the warrior (samurai) class, where it was customary for a boy in the wakashū age category to undergo training in the martial arts by apprenticing to a more experienced adult man. The man was permitted, if the boy agreed, to take the boy as his lover until he came of age; this relationship, often formalized in a "brotherhood contract", was expected to be exclusive, with both partners swearing to take no other (male) lovers. The Samurai period was one in which homosexuality was seen as particularly positive. Later when Japanese society became pacified, the middle classes adopted many of the practices of the warrior class.

Lesotho

Anthropologists Stephen Murray and Will Roscoe reported that women in Lesotho engaged in socially sanctioned "long term, erotic relationships" called motsoalle.

Papua New Guinea

In Papua New Guinea, same-sex relationships were an integral part of the culture until the middle of the last century. The Etoro and Marind-anim for example, even viewed heterosexuality as wasteful and celebrated homosexuality instead. They believed that in sharing semen, they are sharing their life force, yet women simply wasted this force any time they didn't get pregnant after sex. In many traditional Melanesian cultures a prepubertal boy would be paired with an older adolescent who would become his mentor and who would "inseminate" him (orally, anally, or topically, depending on the tribe) over a number of years in order for the younger to also reach puberty.

LGBT-related laws by country or territory

Maps

Laws regarding same-sex sexuality by country or territory   Same-sex marriage   Other type of partnership (or unregistered cohabitation)   Foreign same-sex marriages recognized   No recognition of same-sex couples   Laws restricting freedom of expression and association   De jure penalty that is de facto not enforced   Imprisonment   Imprisonment (up to life sentence)   Up to death LGBT rights at the United Nations   Support Countries which have signed a General Assembly declaration of LGBT rights and/or sponsored the Human Rights Council's 2011 resolution on LGBT rights (96 members)   Oppose Countries which signed a 2008 statement opposing LGBT rights (initially 57 members, now 54 members)   Neither Countries which, as regards the UN, have expressed neither official support nor opposition to LGBT rights (44 members   Non-UN member Countries that are non-UN members (14 non-UN members) Homosexual "propaganda" laws by country or territory   Homosexual "propaganda" laws by country or territory   Countries or territories that don't have homosexual "propaganda" laws Decriminalization of same-sex sexual intercourse by country or territory   1790–1799   1800–1819   1820–1829   1830–1839   1840–1859   1860–1869   1870–1879   1880–1889   1890–1909   1910–1919   1920–1929   1930–1939   1940–19491   1950–1959   1960–1969   1970–1979   1980–1989   1990–19992   2000–2009   2010-present3   Same-sex sexual activity legal4   Male same-sex sexual intercourse illegal   Same-sex sexual intercourse illegal 1During World War II, Nazi Germany annexed territory or established reichskommissariats which extended Germany's laws against same-sex sexual intercourse to those territories and reichskommissariats. Same-sex sexual intercourse was previously legalized in the following countries or territories before German annexation or establishment of reichskommissariats: Bas-Rhin (legal in 1791), Belgium (legal in 1795), Belluno (legal in 1890), Friuli-Venezia Giulia (legal in 1890), Haut-Rhin (legal in 1791), Luxembourg (legal in 1795), Moselle (legal in 1791), Netherlands (legal in 1811), Nord (legal in 1791), Pas-de-Calais (legal in 1791), Poland (legal in 1932), and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol (legal in 1890). All countries and territories listed that where annexed or established into reichskommissariats by Nazi Germany during World War II where restored as independent countries or reincorporated into their previous countries during or after the war and thus re-legalized same-sex sexual intercourse in those areas. 2In May 1973, the Libyan Arab Republic annexed the Aouzou Strip from Chad. Libya's laws against same-sex sexual intercourse where thus extended to the annexed Aouzou Strip. In August 1987, during the Toyota War between the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and Chad, Aouzou fell to the Chadian forces, only to be repelled by an overwhelming Libyan counter-offensive. The Aouzou dispute was concluded on February 3, 1994, when the judges of the International Court of Justice by a majority of 16 to 1 decided that the Aouzou Strip belonged to Chad. Monitored by international observers, the withdrawal of Libyan troops from the Strip began on April 15, 1994, and was completed by May 10, 1994. The formal and final transfer of the Aouzou Strip from Libya to Chad took place on May 30, 1994, when the sides signed a joint declaration stating that the Libyan withdrawal had been effected. 3During the Iraq Crisis / Iraqi Civil War, from 2013 to present, parts of Iraq were taken over by the Islamic State, enacting sharia and executing LGBT people. Territories, from 2014 to present, retaken by Iraqi government and thus re-legalized same-sex sexual intercourse in those areas. 4Same-sex sexual intercourse was never criminalized in the following countries and territories: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Chad (excluding Aouzou Strip), Clipperton Island, Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, French Polynesia, French Southern and Antarctic Lands, Gabon, Indonesia, (excluding Aceh, British Bencoolen, Netherlands East-Indies (prior to 1811), and South Sumatra) Laos, Madagascar, Mali, Mayotte, New Caledonia, Niger, North Korea, South Korea, Vietnam, and Wallis and Futuna. Equalization of age of consent laws for same-sex couples by country or territory   1790–1829   1830–1839   1840–1859   1860–1869   1870–1879   1880–1889   1890–1929   1930–1939   1940–19491   1950–1959   1960–1969   1970–1979   1980–1989   1990–1999   2000–2009   2010-present   Equal age of consent laws for opposite and same-sex couples   Unequal age of consent laws for same-sex couples 1During World War II, Nazi Germany annexed territory or established reichskommissariats which extended Germany's laws against same-sex sexual intercourse to those territories and reichskommissariats. Age of consent was previously equalized for same-sex couples in the following countries or territories before German annexation or establishment of reichskommissariats: Belluno (legal in 1890), Friuli-Venezia Giulia (legal in 1890), Poland (legal in 1932), and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol (legal in 1890). All countries and territories listed that where annexed or established into reichskommissariats by Nazi Germany during World War II where restored as independent countries or reincorporated into their previous countries during or after the war and thus re-legalized equal age of consent laws for same-sex couples in those areas. Legal status of adoption by same-sex couples by country or territory   Joint adoption allowed1   Second-parent adoption allowed2   No laws allowing adoption by same-sex couples 1In Finland a law will come into force in 2017 LGBT service in national militarizes by country or territory   All LGBT people can serve   GBT men can serve   LGB people can serve   GB men can serve   Ambiguous or conditional policy   LGBT people are banned from serving   No military   No data on LGBT service Employment discrimination laws by sexual orientation and/or gender identity by country or territory   Sexual orientation and gender identity: all employment   Sexual orientation with anti–employment discrimination ordinance and gender identity solely in public employment   Sexual orientation: all employment   Gender identity: all employment   Sexual orientation and gender identity: federal public employment and federal contractors   Sexual orientation and gender identity: public employment   Sexual orientation: public employment   No national-level employment laws covering sexual orientation and/or gender identity Constitutional discrimination laws by sexual orientation and/or gender identity by country or territory   Sexual orientation covered   Gender identity covered   No national or local level constitutional discrimination laws covering sexual orientation and/or gender identity LGBT hate crime laws by country or territory   Sexual orientation and gender identity hate crime laws   Sexual orientation hate crime laws   No LGBT hate crime laws Incitement to hatred based on sexual orientation and gender identity prohibited by country or territory   Incitement to hatred based on sexual orientation and gender identity   Incitement to hatred based on sexual orientation prohibited   No prohibition on incitement to hatred based on sexual orientation and gender identity Bans on LGBT conversion therapy for minors by country or territory   Ban on LGBT conversion therapy for minors   No prohibition LGBT conversion therapy for minors LGBT immigration equality by country or territory   Recognition of same-sex couples in national immigration laws   Unknown/ambiguous Bans on same-sex unions by country or territory   No specific prohibition of same-sex marriages or unions   Statute bans same-sex marriage   Constitution bans same-sex marriage   Constitution bans same-sex marriage and equivalent/similar union Blood donation policies for men who have sex with men by country or territory   Men who have sex with men may donate blood; No deferral   Men who have sex with men may donate blood; Temporary deferral   Men who have sex with men may not donate blood; Permanent deferral1   No Data 1No restriction in Israel and the United States of America if last MSM activity was before 1977. Blood donation policies for female sex partners of men who have sex with men by country or territory   Female sex partners of men who have sex with men may donate blood; No deferral   Female sex partners of men who have sex with men may donate blood; Temporary deferral   Female sex partners of men who have sex with men may not donate blood; Permanent deferral   No Data Laws concerning gender identity-expression by country or territory   Legal identity change   No legal identity change   Unknown/Ambiguous

Africa

Main article: LGBT rights in Africa

Tables:

Northern Africa

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of same-sex unions	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
Algeria	Illegal since 1966 Penalty: Fine and up to 2 years imprisonment.
Ceuta (Autonomous city of Spain)	Legal since 1979 + UN decl. sign.	De facto union since 1998	Legal since 2005	Legal since 2005	Spain responsible for defence	Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Since 2007, all documents can be amended to the recognised gender
Egypt	Male de facto illegal Penalty: Up to 17 years imprisonment with or without hard labour and with or without torture and fines under broadly written morality laws Female uncertain.
Libya	Illegal Penalty: Up to 3 years imprisonment.
Melilla (Autonomous city of Spain)	Legal since 1979 + UN decl. sign.	De facto union since 2008	Legal since 2005	Legal since 2005	Spain responsible for defence	Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Since 2007, all documents can be amended to the recognised gender
Morocco (Including Southern Provinces)	Illegal Penalty: Up to 3 years imprisonment.
South Sudan	Illegal since 1899 (as Anglo-Egyptian Sudan) Penalty: Up to 10 years imprisonment.		Constitutional ban since 2011.
Sudan	Illegal since 1899 (as Anglo-Egyptian Sudan) Penalty: Death penalty on third offense for men and on fourth offense for women.
Tunisia	Illegal Penalty: 3 years imprisonment.

Western Africa

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of same-sex unions	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
Benin	Legal (No laws against same-sex sexual activity have ever existed in the country). (Age of consent discrepancy)
Burkina Faso	Legal (No laws against same-sex sexual activity have ever existed in the country).		Constitutional ban since 1991.
Cape Verde	Legal since 2004 + UN decl. sign.					Bans some anti-gay discrimination.
Côte d'Ivoire	Legal (No laws against same-sex sexual activity have ever existed in the country). (Age of consent discrepancy)
Gambia	Illegal since 1888 (as Gambia Colony and Protectorate) Penalty: Up to Iife imprisonment.
Ghana	Male illegal since 1860s (as Gold Coast) Penalty: 10 years imprisonment or more Female always legal.
Guinea	Penalty: 6 months to 3 years imprisonment.
Guinea-Bissau	Legal since 1993 + UN decl. sign.
Liberia	Illegal Penalty: 1 year imprisonment.
Mali	Legal (No laws against same-sex sexual activity have ever existed in the country).
Mauritania	Illegal Penalty: Death penalty (No public executions for any crime since 1987).
Niger	Legal (No laws against same-sex sexual activity have ever existed in the country). (Age of consent discrepancy)
Nigeria	Illegal under federal law since 1901 (as Northern Nigeria Protectorate and Southern Nigeria Protectorate) Penalty: Up to 14 years imprisonment Illegal in the states of Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Sokoto, Yobe, and Zamfara Penalty: Death penalty for men. Whipping and/or imprisonment for women.
Senegal	Illegal Penalty: 1 to 5 years imprisonment.
Sierra Leone	Male illegal since 1861 (as the colony of Sierra Leone) Penalty: Up to life imprisonment (Not enforced) Female always legal + UN decl. sign.
Togo	Illegal since 1884 (as Togoland) Penalty: Fine and 3 years imprisonment.

Central Africa

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of same-sex unions	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
Cameroon	Illegal since 1972 Penalty: Fines to 5 years imprisonment.
Central African Republic	Legal (No laws against same-sex sexual activity have ever existed in the country). + UN decl. sign.
Chad	Legal (No laws against same-sex sexual activity have ever existed in the country). (Same-sex sexual activity illegal in Aouzou Strip under annexation of Libya from 1973 to 1994). (Age of consent discrepancy)
Democratic Republic of the Congo	Legal (No laws against same-sex sexual activity have ever existed in the country).		Constitutional ban since 2005.
Equatorial Guinea	Legal.
Gabon	Legal (No laws against same-sex sexual activity have ever existed in the country) + UN decl. sign. (Age of consent discrepancy)
Republic of the Congo	Legal (No laws against same-sex sexual activity have ever existed in the country). (Age of consent discrepancy)
Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (Overseas territory of the United Kingdom)	Legal since 2001 + UN decl. sign.				Since 2000. UK responsible for defence.	Constitutional ban all anti-gay on discrimination.	Since 2013.
São Tomé and Príncipe	Legal since 2012 + UN decl. sign.

Southeast Africa

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of same-sex unions	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
Burundi	Illegal since 2009 Penalty: 3 months to 2 years imprisonment.		Constitutional ban since 2005.
Kenya	Illegal since 1897 (as East Africa Protectorate) Penalty: up to 14 years imprisonment.		Constitutional ban since 2010.
Rwanda	Legal since 1916 (as Ruanda-Urundi) (Age of consent discrepancy) + UN decl. sign.		Constitutional ban since 2003.
Uganda	Male illegal since 1894 (as Protectorate of Uganda) Penalty: Up to 14 years imprisonment Female illegal since 2000 Penalty: Up to 7 years imprisonment.		Constitutional ban since 2005.
Tanzania	Illegal since 1864 (only Zanzibar) Illegal since 1899 (as German East Africa; only Tanzania, excluding Zanzibar) Penalty: Up to life imprisonment.

Horn of Africa

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of same-sex unions	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
Djibouti	Legal (No laws against same-sex sexual activity have ever existed in the country).
Eritrea	Illegal Penalty: Up to 3 years imprisonment (Not enforced)
Ethiopia	Illegal Penalty: 10 years imprisonment or more
Somalia	Illegal Penalty: Up to 3 years imprisonment

Indian Ocean States

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of same-sex unions	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
Comoros	Illegal Penalty: 5 years imprisonment & fines
French Southern and Antarctic Lands (Overseas territory of France)	Legal (No laws against same-sex sexual activity have ever existed in the territory).	Civil solidarity pact since 1999	Legal since 2013	Legal since 2013		Bans all anti-gay discrimination	However, it requires sterilization for sex change.
Madagascar	Legal (No laws against same-sex sexual activity have ever existed in the country). (Age of consent discrepancy)
Mauritius	Legal (No laws against same-sex sexual activity; however, anal sex is illegal, punishable with 5 years' prison) Female always legal + UN decl. sign.					Bans some anti-gay discrimination
Mayotte (Overseas department of France)	Legal (No laws against same-sex sexual activity have ever existed in the department).	Civil solidarity pact since 1999	Legal since 2013	Legal since 2013		Bans all anti-gay discrimination	However, it requires sterilization for sex change.
Réunion (Overseas department of France)	Legal since 1791	Civil solidarity pact since 1999	Legal since 2013	Legal since 2013		Bans all anti-gay discrimination	However, it requires sterilization for sex change.
Seychelles	Male illegal Penalty: Up to 14 years imprisonment (Not enforced) Female always legal + UN decl. sign.					Bans all anti-gay discrimination

Southern Africa

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of same-sex unions	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
Angola	De facto illegal Penalty: Fines, restrictions or penal labor (Not enforced)
Botswana	Illegal since 1885 (as Bechuanaland Protectorate) Penalty: Fine to up to 7 years imprisonment (Not enforced)					Bans some anti-gay discrimination
Lesotho	Male legal since 2012 Female always legal
Malawi	Illegal since 1891 (as Nyasaland Districts Protectorate) Penalty: Up to 14 years imprisonment & whippings (Law suspended from usage since 2012)
Mozambique	Legal since 2015					Bans some anti-gay discrimination
Namibia	Male illegal since 1920 (as South-West Africa; Not enforced) Female always legal
South Africa	Male legal since 1998 Female always legal + UN decl. sign.	Limited recognition of unregistered partnerships since 1998; Same-sex marriage since 2006.	Legal since 2006	Legal since 2002	Since 1998	Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Anti-discrimination laws are interpreted to include gender identity; legal gender may be changed after surgical or medical treatment.
Swaziland	Male illegal since the 1880s Female always legal
Zambia	Illegal since 1911 (as Rhodesia) Penalty: up to 14 years imprisonment
Zimbabwe	Male illegal since 1891 (as Rhodesia) Female always legal		Constitutional ban since 2013

Partially recognized or unrecognized states

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of same-sex unions	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (Excluding Southern Provinces)	Illegal Penalty: Up to 3 years imprisonment
Somaliland	Illegal since 1941 (as British Somaliland Protectorate) Penalty: Up to 3 years imprisonment

The Americas

Main article: LGBT rights in the Americas

Tables:

North America

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of same-sex unions	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB people allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
Bermuda (Overseas territory of the United Kingdom)	Legal since 1994 (age of consent discrepancy) + UN decl. sign.			Legal since 2015	UK responsible for defence.	Bans all anti-gay discrimination.
Canada	Legal since 1969 (age of consent discrepancy and prohibition of anal intercourse in some cases) + UN decl. sign.	Domestic partnership in Nova Scotia (2001); Civil union in Quebec (2002); Adult interdependent relationship in Alberta (2003); Common-law relationship in Manitoba (2004)	Legal in some provinces and territories since 2003, nationwide since 2005.	Legal in some provinces and territories since 1996, nationwide since 2010.	Since 1992	Bans all anti-gay discrimination, including hate speech. Pathologization or attempted treatment of sexual orientation by mental health professionals illegal in Ontario since 2015.	Transgender persons can change their legal gender and name after completion of medical intervention in most provinces and territories (not required in Ontario, British Columbia and Manitoba); Explicit anti-discrimination protections only in Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario and the Northwest Territories implicit elsewhere.
Greenland (Constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark)	Legal since 1933 + UN decl. sign.	Registered partnership since 1996	Legal since 2015	/ Step-child adoption since 2009;(Joint adoption pending)	Denmark responsible for defence.	Bans some anti-gay discrimination.
Mexico	Legal since 1871 + UN decl. sign.	/ Civil union in Mexico City (2007), Coahuila (2007), Colima (2013), Campeche (2013), Jalisco (2014) and Michoacán (TBD).	/ Legal in Mexico City (2010), Quintana Roo (2012), Coahuila (2014), Chihuahua (2015) and Guerrero (2015). All states are obliged to honour same-sex marriages performed in states where it is legal. (Proposed nationwide). The Supreme Court has declared that it is unconstitutional to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples in all states, but as state constitutions were not invalidated, individual injunctions must still be obtained from the court.	/ Explicitly legal in Mexico City (2010) and Coahuila (2014). Nationwide, married same-sex couples may adopt.	/ No explicit ban. However, LGB persons have been reportedly discharged on the grounds of "immorality".	Constitutional ban on all anti-gay discrimination.	Transgender persons can change their legal gender and name in Mexico City since 2008. Mexico adopted a legal protocol for gender identity and sexual orientation in 2014 based upon constitutional provisions to equally protect the rights of all citizens.
Saint Pierre et Miquelon (Overseas collectivity of France)	Legal since 1791 + UN decl. sign.	Civil solidarity pact since 1999	Legal since 2013	Legal since 2013		Bans all anti-gay discrimination.	Requires sterilization for legal change.
United States	Legal in some states since 1962, nationwide since 2003 + UN decl. sign.	Domestic partnership in California (1999), the District of Columbia (2002), Maine (2004), Washington (2007), Oregon (2008), Maryland (2008), Wisconsin (2009) and Nevada (2009); Civil union in Vermont (2000), Connecticut (2005), New Jersey (2007), New Hampshire (2008), Illinois (2011), Rhode Island (2011), Hawaii (2012), Delaware (2012), and Colorado (2013)	Legal in some states since 2004. Nationwide since 2015, except American Samoa and some tribal jurisdictions.	Legal in some states since 1993. Nationwide since 2015, except Mississippi and American Samoa.	Since 2011	/ Federal executive order prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation for employees in the federal civilian workforce, along with the government employment in the District of Columbia, and the United States Postal Service, since 1998 (see Executive Order 12968 and Executive Order 13087). Pathologization or attempted treatment of sexual orientation with minors by mental health professionals illegal in some states. (Banned in California, Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon and the District of Columbia). Included in the federal hate crimes law since 2009. (Sexual orientation discrimination in public and private employment)	/ Gender identity discrimination in employment and healthcare insurance banned since 2012. Included in the federal hate crimes law since 2009. (Gender identity discrimination in public and private employment)

Central America

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of same-sex unions	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB people allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
Belize	Male illegal since 2003 Penalty: 10-year prison sentence (not enforced) Female always legal.
Costa Rica	Legal since 1971 + UN decl. sign.	Unregistered cohabitation since 2014; (De facto union pending)		LGBT individuals may adopt.	Has no military.	Bans all anti-gay discrimination.
El Salvador	Legal since the 1800s + UN decl. sign.		(Constitutional ban pending)			Bans all anti-gay discrimination.	Bans hate crimes based on gender identity.
Guatemala	Legal since 1800's + UN decl. sign.
Honduras	Legal since 1899 + UN decl. sign.		Constitutional ban since 2005.			Bans hate crimes based on sexual orientation.	Bans hate crimes based on gender identity.
Nicaragua	Legal since 2008 + UN decl. sign.					Bans some anti-gay discrimination.
Panama	Legal since 2008 + UN decl. sign.				Has no military.	(Anti-discrimination law proposed).	Transgender persons can change their legal gender and name after completion of medical intervention since 2006.

Caribbean

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of same-sex unions	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB people allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
Anguilla (Overseas territory of the United Kingdom)	Legal since 2000 + UN decl. sign.				UK responsible for defence.
Antigua and Barbuda	Illegal Penalty: 15-year prison sentence.
Aruba (Constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands)	Legal + UN decl. sign.	(Pending)	/(Pending) Same-sex marriages performed in the Netherlands recognized.		The Netherlands responsible for defence.
Bahamas	Legal since 1991 (age of consent discrepancy) + UN decl. sign.
Barbados	Illegal Penalty: Life imprisonment (not enforced).
British Virgin Islands (Overseas territory of the United Kingdom)	Legal since 2000 + UN decl. sign.				UK responsible for defence.	Constitutional ban on all anti-gay discrimination.
Caribbean Netherlands (Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, Saba; Special municipalities of the Netherlands)	Legal + UN decl. sign.	Registered partnership since 2012	Legal since 2012		The Netherlands responsible for defence.	Bans all anti-gay discrimination.
Cayman Islands (Overseas territory of the United Kingdom)	Legal since 2000 (age of consent discrepancy) + UN decl. sign.		Constitutional ban since 2009.		UK responsible for defence.
Cuba	Legal since 1979 + UN decl. sign.		Constitutional ban since 1976.			Bans some anti-gay discrimination.
Curaçao (Constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands)	Legal + UN decl. sign.	(Proposed)	/ Same-sex marriages performed in the Netherlands recognized.		The Netherlands responsible for defence.
Dominica	Illegal Penalty: 10-year prison sentence or incarceration in a psychiatric institution + UN decl. sign.
Dominican Republic	Legal since 1822 + UN decl. sign.		Constitutional ban since 2010.
Grenada	Male illegal Penalty: 10-year prison sentence Female always legal.				Has no military.
Guadeloupe (Overseas department of France)	Legal since 1791 + UN decl. sign.	Civil solidarity pact since 1999	Legal since 2013	Legal since 2013		Bans all anti-gay discrimination.	Requires sterilization for legal change.
Haiti	Legal since 1986				Has no military.
Jamaica	Male illegal Penalty: 10 years hard labor (not enforced) Female always legal.
Martinique (Overseas department of France)	Legal since 1791 + UN decl. sign.	Civil solidarity pact since 1999	Legal since 2013	Legal since 2013		Bans all anti-gay discrimination.	Requires sterilization for legal change.
Montserrat (Overseas territory of the United Kingdom)	Legal since 2000 + UN decl. sign.		Constitutional ban since 2010.		UK responsible for defence.	Constitutional ban on all anti-gay discrimination.
Puerto Rico (Commonwealth of the United States)	Legal since 2003 + UN decl. sign.	Since 2015	Legal since 2015	Legal since 2015	Since 2011	Bans hate crimes since 2002 and anti–employment discrimination since 2013. US hate crime laws also apply.	Bans hate crimes since 2002 and anti–employment discrimination since 2013. US hate crime laws also apply.
Saint Barthélemy (Overseas collectivity of France since 2007)	Legal since 1791 + UN decl. sign.	Civil solidarity pact since 1999	Legal since 2013	Legal since 2013		Bans all anti-gay discrimination.	Requires sterilization for legal change.
Saint Kitts and Nevis	Male illegal Penalty: 10 years Female always legal.
Saint Lucia	Male illegal Penalty: fine and/or 10-year prison sentence Female always legal.				Has no military.
Saint Martin (Overseas collectivity of France since 2007)	Legal since 1791 + UN decl. sign.	Civil solidarity pact since 1999	Legal since 2013	Legal since 2013		Bans all anti-gay discrimination.	Requires sterilization for legal change.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Illegal Penalty: fine and/or 10-year prison sentence.				Has no military.
Sint Maarten (Constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands)	Legal + UN decl. sign.	(Proposed)	/ Same-sex marriages performed in the Netherlands recognized.		The Netherlands responsible for defence.
Trinidad and Tobago	Illegal Penalty: 25-year prison sentence (not enforced).
Turks and Caicos Islands (Overseas territory of the United Kingdom)	Legal since 2000 + UN decl. sign.		Constitutional ban since 2011.		UK responsible for defence.	Constitutional ban on all anti-gay discrimination.
United States Virgin Islands (Insular area of the United States)	Legal since 1985 + UN decl. sign.	Since 2015	Legal since 2015	Legal since 2015	Since 2011	The US hate crime laws also apply to all US external territories as well.	The US hate crime laws also apply to all US external territories as well.

South America

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of same-sex unions	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB people allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
Argentina	Legal since 1887 + UN decl. sign.	Civil union in Buenos Aires (2003) and Rio Negro (2003) Cohabitation union nationwide since 2015	Legal since 2010.	Legal since 2010	Since 2009	/ Legal protection in some provinces (federal law pending). Pathologization or attempted treatment of sexual orientation by mental health professionals illegal.	Transgender persons can change their legal gender and name without surgeries or judicial permission since 2012.
Bolivia	Legal + UN decl. sign.	Constitutional ban on free unions. (Family life agreement pending)	Constitutional ban since 2009.	LGBT individuals may adopt.	Since 2010 the Armed Forces prohibits the ejection from the military because of sexual orientation.	Bans all anti-gay discrimination.	Transgender persons can change their legal gender and name after completion of medical intervention since 2005.
Brazil	Legal since 1831 + UN decl. sign.	"Stable unions" legal in some states since 2004. All rights as recognized family entities available nationwide since 2011.	Legal in some states since 2012, nationwide since 2013.	Legal since 2010	Since 1969	/ All state-sanctioned social discrimination of citizens since 1988. Legal protection for sexual orientation in many jurisdictions (expansion of anti-discrimination (all) national Constitutional amendment discussed in the Senate). Pathologization or attempted treatment of sexual orientation by mental health professionals illegal since 1999.	Transgender persons can change their legal gender and name after completion of medical intervention since 2009.
Chile	Legal since 1999 (age of consent discrepancy) + UN decl. sign.	Civil union agreement since 2015	(Pending).	LGBT individuals may adopt (Joint and step-child adoption pending).	Since 2012.	Bans all anti-gay discrimination since 2012.	Transgender persons can change their legal gender and name after completion of medical intervention since 2007. Surgery no longer a requirement beginning in 2015. Judicial permission required. Currently, a broader gender identity law (which would not require any surgeries or judicial permission) is being discussed by the congress.
Colombia	Legal since 1981 + UN decl. sign.	De facto marital union since 2007	(Pending Constitutional Court ruling)	Step-child adoption since 2014. Joint adoption since 2015	Since 1999. Since 2009 the military special social security system can be used by same sex couples in the army.	Since 2011 Bans all anti-gay discrimination, including hate speech.	Since 2015, transgender persons can change their legal gender and name manifesting their solemn will before a notar, no surgeries or judicial order required.
Ecuador	Legal since 1997 + UN decl. sign.	De facto union since 2009	Constitutional ban since 2009.	LGBT individuals may adopt.		Bans all anti-gay discrimination.	Transgender persons can change their legal gender and name after completion of medical intervention.
Falkland Islands (Overseas territory of the United Kingdom)	Legal since 1989 + UN decl. sign.	(Civil partnership proposed)	(Proposed)		UK responsible for defence.	Constitutional ban on all anti-gay discrimination.
French Guiana (Overseas department of France)	Legal since 1791 + UN decl. sign.	Civil solidarity pact since 1999	Legal since 2013	Legal since 2013		Bans all anti-gay discrimination.	Requires sterilization for legal change.
Guyana	Illegal Penalty: Up to life imprisonment (Not enforced).
Paraguay	Legal since 1880 (age of consent discrepancy) + UN decl. sign.	Constitutional ban on de facto unions since 1992.	Constitutional ban since 1992.			(Proposed)
Peru	Legal since 1836-1837 + UN decl. sign.	(Solidary community pending)			Since 2009	Bans some anti-gay discrimination.	Transgender persons can change their legal name after completion of medical intervention. Gender change is not allowed by courts.
Suriname	Legal since 1869 (age of consent discrepancy).
Uruguay	Legal since 1934 + UN decl. sign.	Concubinage union since 2008.	Legal since 2013	Legal since 2009	Since 2009	Bans all anti-gay discrimination since 2004.	Transgender persons can change their legal gender and name since 2009.
Venezuela	Legal since 1997 + UN decl. sign.	/ Civil union in Mérida since 2010	(Proposed) Constitutional ban since 1999.		Since 1999	Bans some anti-gay discrimination.

Asia

Main article: LGBT rights in Asia

This table:

Central Asia

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of same-sex unions	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
Kazakhstan	Legal since 1998
Kyrgyzstan	Legal since 1998
Tajikistan	Legal since 1998
Turkmenistan	Male illegal Penalty: up to 2-year prison sentence Female always legal
Uzbekistan	Male illegal Penalty: up to 3-year prison sentence Female always legal

Northern Asia

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of same-sex unions	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
Akrotiri and Dhekelia (Overseas territory of the United Kingdom)	Legal since 2000 + UN decl. sign.				UK responsible for defence	Bans some anti-gay discrimination
Armenia	Legal since 2003 + UN decl. sign.				/ No explicit ban. However, LGBT persons have been reportedly discharged because of their sexual orientation.
Azerbaijan	Legal since 2000						(Requires sterilization for change).
Cyprus	Legal since 1998 + UN decl. sign.	Since 2015				Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Forbids discrimination based on gender identity.
Georgia	Legal since 2000 + UN decl. sign.		(Constitutional ban proposed)			Bans all anti-gay discrimination	(Requires sterilization for change)
Russia	Male legal since 1993 Female always legal		(Constitutional ban proposed)	LGBT individuals may adopt.			(Requires sterilization for change)
Turkey	Legal since 1858				(Proposed)	(Proposed)	(Requires sterilization for change)

Western Asia

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of same-sex unions	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
Bahrain	Legal since 1976 (Age of consent discrepancy)
Iran	Illegal Penalty: For men 74 lashes for immature men and death penalty for mature men of sound mind and is consenting. For women 50 lashes for women of mature sound mind and is consenting. Death penalty offense after fourth conviction.						Legal gender recognition in Iran is legal if accompanied by a medical intervention.
Iraq	Legal since 2003 (Age of consent discrepancy)
Israel	Legal since 1988 + UN decl. sign.	Unregistered cohabitation since 1994.	/ Unrecognized if performed in country, but foreign same-sex marriages are recognized.	Step-child adoption since 2005. Joint adoption since 2008.	Since 1993	Bans some anti-gay discrimination; Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty applies to homosexuals and bisexuals.	Full recognition of gender's ID without a surgery or medical intervention; equal employment opportunity law bars discrimination based on gender identity; Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty applies to transgender individuals.
Jordan	Legal since 1951
Kuwait	Male illegal Penalty: Fines or up to 6-year prison sentence Female always legal
Lebanon	Legal since 2014
Oman	Illegal Penalty: Fines and prison sentence up to 3 years (Only enforced when dealing with "public scandal")
Qatar	Illegal Penalty: Fines, prison sentence up to 7 years. Death penalty offense. (Applies to Muslims only)
Saudi Arabia	Illegal Penalty: Prison sentences of several months to life, fines and/or whipping/flogging, castration, torture or death can be sentenced on first conviction. A second conviction merits execution.
Syria	Illegal Penalty: Prison sentence up to 3 years (Law in de-facto suspended)						Transsexuals allowed to change legal gender
United Arab Emirates	Illegal under federal law Penalty: deportation, fines or prison time (Unclear if the death penalty applies) Illegal in the emirate of Dubai Penalty: Up to 14 years imprisonment Illegal in the emirate of Abu Dhabi Penalty: Up to 10 years imprisonment
Yemen	Illegal Penalty: Unmarried men punished with 100 lashes of the whip or a maximum of one year of imprisonment, married men with death by stoning. Women punished up to three years of imprisonment; where the offense has been committed under duress, the punishment is up to seven years detention.

Southern Asia

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of same-sex unions	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
Afghanistan	Illegal Penalty: Long imprisonment or death penalty (No known cases of death sentences have been handed out for same-sex sexual activity after the end of Taliban rule)
Bangladesh	Illegal Penalty: 10 years to life imprisonment						A third option (hijra) beside male and female
Bhutan	Illegal Penalty: Prison sentence up to 1 year (Not enforced)
India	Illegal nationwide since 1861, was legal from 2009 to 2013. Penalty: Up to 10 years imprisonment (sporadically enforced) Legalization has been proposed.	No explicit recognition.	No explicit recognition.	Transgender individuals may adopt.			"Third gender" recognised by Supreme Court
Maldives	Illegal Penalty: For men the punishment is banishment for nine months to one year or a whipping of 10 to 30 strokes. For women is house arrest for nine months to one year.
Nepal	Legal since 2007 + UN decl. sign.	(Proposed: By Supreme Court in 2008)	(Proposed: By Supreme Court in 2008)	Under consideration		Constitution bans all anti-gay discrimination.	Gender change is legal since 2007. Constitution bans all discrimination.
Pakistan	Illegal Penalty: 2 years to life sentence						'Third gender' officially protected from discrimination by Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2010
Sri Lanka	Illegal Penalty: Fine and up to 10 years imprisonment (Not enforced)

Eastern Asia

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of relationships	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
China (People's Republic of)	Legal since 1997						Transsexuals allowed to change legal gender, but only after sex reassignment surgery.
Hong Kong (Special administrative region of China)	Legal since 1991	(Proposed)			The People's Republic of China is in charge of Hong Kong's defence affairs. Regardless of sexual orientation, military personnel are not recruited from Hong Kong.	Government employment, goods and services only	Transsexuals allowed to change legal gender, but only after sex reassignment surgery.
Japan	Legal since 1880 + UN decl. sign.	/ Partnership in Shibuya (2015) and Setagaya (2015)				/ No nationwide protections, but some cities ban some anti-gay discriminations	Transsexuals allowed to change legal gender, but only after sex reassignment surgery and in case that the transsexual has no child under 20 years old
Macau (Special administrative region of China)	Legal (No laws against same-sex sexual activity has ever existed in the region)				The People's Republic of China is in charge of Macau's defence affairs. Regardless of sexual orientation, military personnel are not recruited from Macau.	Bans some anti-gay discrimination
Mongolia	Legal since 1961 + UN decl. sign.
North Korea	Legal (No laws against same-sex sexual activity has ever existed in the country)						Unknown although there are heavily obeyed gender roles for both male and female. See Let's trim our hair in accordance with the socialist lifestyle
South Korea	Legal (No laws against same-sex sexual activity has ever existed in the country) + UN decl. sign.				Due to conscription.		Transsexuals allowed to change legal gender

Southeast Asia

LGBT rights in	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of relationships	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
Brunei	Illegal Penalty: Fines and imprisonment up to 10 years or death by stoning
Burma	Illegal Penalty: Up to life sentence (Not enforced)
Cambodia	Legal (No laws against same-sex sexual activity has ever existed in the country)		Constitutional ban since 1993, though there has been at least one recorded case of a legally registered and recognized same-sex marriage.
East Timor	Legal since 1975 + UN decl. sign.					Bans hate crimes based on sexual orientation
Indonesia	Legal nationwide, except; Illegal in the provinces of Aceh and South Sumatra (Applies only to Muslims) (Age of consent discrepancy)						Transsexuals allowed to change legal gender
Laos	Legal (No laws against same-sex sexual activity has ever existed in the country)
Malaysia	Male illegal Penalty: fines, prison sentence (2-20 years), or whippings Female always legal
Philippines	Legal nationwide since 1933 except; Illegal in Marawi City (Applies to Muslims only)	(Pending)	(Pending)	LGBT individuals may adopt.	Since 2009	Cebu Quezon City, Davao and Albay have anti-discrimination ordinances (National bill pending but still not made into law)	(Pending)
Singapore	Male illegal Penalty: up to 2 years prison sentence (Not enforced since 1999) Female legal since 2007				Due to conscription, but gays are not allowed to go to command school or serve in sensitive units.		Transsexuals allowed to change legal gender, but only after sex reassignment surgery.
Thailand	Legal since 1956 + UN decl. sign.	(Proposed)			Since 2005	Bans all anti-gay discrimination.	Transsexuals may change their legal name after having a sex change operation.
Vietnam	Legal (No laws against same-sex sexual activity has ever existed in the country)						Sex-change recognized for sex assignment for persons of congenital sex defects and unidentifiable sex. Gender reassignment surgery from 2017

Partially recognized or unrecognized states

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of same-sex unions	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
Abkhazia	Legal after 1991
Islamic State	Illegal Penalty: Death penalty
Nagorno-Karabakh	Legal since 2000
Northern Cyprus	Legal since 2014					Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Discrimination or hate speech banned since 2014. Unknown if gender change is legal.
Palestinian territories	West Bank: Legal since 1951 (As part of Jordan) Gaza: Male illegal Penalty: Up to 10 years imprisonment Female always legal
South Ossetia	Legal after 1991
Taiwan (China, Republic of)	Legal since 1895	/ Registered partnership in Kaohsiung (2015), Taipei (2015) and Taichung (2015); (Proposed nationwide)	(Pending)	(Pending)	Due to military draft	Bans some anti-gay discrimination (in work and education)	Transsexuals allowed to change legal gender. Surgery no longer a requirement beginning in 2015

Europe

Main article: LGBT rights in Europe

Tables:

European Union

Main article: LGBT rights in the European Union

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of same-sex unions	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
European Union	Legal in all 28 member states.	/ Legal in 21/28 member states.	/ Legal in 12/28 member states.	/ Joint adoption legal in 13/28 member states. Step-child adoption legal in 16/28 member states.	/ Legal in 27/28 member states.	/ Membership requires a state to ban anti-gay discrimination in employment only.	Legal in all 28 member states.

Central Europe

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of same-sex unions	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
Austria	Legal since 1971 + UN decl. sign.	Registered partnership since 2010	(Pending)	Step-child adoption since 2013. Joint adoption since 2016.		Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Gender change is legal.
Croatia	Legal since 1977 (As part of Yugoslavia) + UN decl. sign.	Life partnership since 2014	Constitutionally banned since the 2013 referendum.	/ Partner-guardianship since 2014 (parental responsibility and a permanent next-of-kins relationship between a life partner and their partner's child which is registered in the child's birth certificate)		Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Act on the elimination of discrimination bans all types discrimination based on both gender identity and gender expression. Gender change is regulated by special policy issued by Ministry of Health.
Czech Republic	Legal since 1962 (As part of Czechoslovakia) + UN decl. sign.	Registered partnership since 2006		LGBT individuals may adopt; (Step-child adoption pending)		Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Legal recognition granted and amendment of birth certificate after reassignment surgery (With mandatory sterilisation) .
Germany	Legal in East Germany since 1968 Legal in West Berlin and West Germany since 1969 + UN decl. sign.	Registered life partnership since 2001	(Pending)	/ Step-child adoption since 2005; (Joint adoption pending)		Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Gender change is legal.
Hungary	Legal since 1962 + UN decl. sign.	Registered partnership since 2009	(Pending) Constitutionally banned since 2012.	LGBT individuals may adopt; (Joint and step-child adoption pending)		Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Full legal recognition granted, birth certificate replaced. No surgery or hormone therapy is required for legal gender change.
Liechtenstein	Legal since 1989 + UN decl. sign.	Registered partnership since 2011		LGBT individuals may adopt.	Has no military	(Proposed)	Gender change is not legal.
Poland	Legal (No laws against same-sex sexual activity has ever existed in the country) + UN decl. sign.		Constitutionally banned since 1997.	LGBT individuals may adopt, joint adoption forbidden.		Bans some anti-gay discrimination
Romania	Legal since 1996 + UN decl. sign.			LGBT individuals may adopt.		Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Legal recognition and birth certificates amended after reassignment surgery.
Slovakia	Legal since 1962 (As part of Czechoslovakia) + UN decl. sign.		Constitutionally banned since 2014	LGBT individuals may adopt.		Bans all anti-gay discrimination	(Requires sterilisation for change).
Slovenia	Legal since 1977 (As part of Yugoslavia) + UN decl. sign.	Registered partnership since 2006		/ Step-child adoption since 2011.		Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Gender change is legal.
Switzerland	Legal nationwide since 1942 Legal in the cantons of Geneva, Ticino, Valais and Vaud (as part of France) since 1798 + UN decl. sign.	Registered partnership since 2007	(Pending) (Constitutional ban pending)	LGBT individuals may adopt; (Biological step-child adoption pending).		Bans some anti-gay discrimination. (Banning all anti-gay discrimination pending)	Legal documents can be issued based on a person's new gender identity. Sterilisation technically required not enforced since 2012. Registered Partnership can become Marriage between the new opposite-sex couple.

Eastern Europe

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of same-sex unions	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
Armenia	Legal since 2003 + UN decl. sign.				/ No explicit ban. However, LGBT persons have been reportedly discharged because of their sexual orientation.
Azerbaijan	Legal since 2000						(Requires sterilisation for change).
Belarus	Legal since 1994		Constitutionally banned since 1994		/ Banned from military service during peacetime, but during wartime homosexuals are permitted to enlist as partially able.	LGBT activism/expression deemed terrorism
Georgia	Legal since 2000 + UN decl. sign.		(Constitutional ban proposed)			Bans all anti-gay discrimination	(Requires sterilisation for change).
Kazakhstan	Legal since 1998
Moldova	Legal since 1995 + UN decl. sign.		Constitutionally banned since 1994			Bans some anti-gay discrimination	(Requires sterilisation for change).
Russia	Male legal since 1993 Female always legal		(Constitutional ban proposed)				(Requires sterilisation for change).
Ukraine	Legal since 1991 + UN decl. sign.		Constitutionally banned since 1996	LGBT individuals may adopt.	/ Policies depend on the regional commissioners.	Bans some anti-gay discrimination	(Requires sterilisation for change).

Northern Europe

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of same-sex unions	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
Denmark	Legal since 1933 + UN decl. sign.	Registered partnership from 1989 to 2012 (Existing partnerships are still recognised.)	Legal since 2012	Step-child adoption since 1999. Joint adoption since 2010.		Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Legal gender change and recognition possible without surgery or hormone therapy.
Estonia	Legal since 1992 + UN decl. sign.	Cohabitation agreement since 2016		/ Step-child adoption since 2016		Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Forbids discrimination based on gender identity.
Faroe Islands (Constituent country of the Kingdom of Denmark)	Legal since 1933 + UN decl. sign.		(Pending)	(Pending)	(Denmark responsible for defence)	Bans some anti-gay discrimination
Finland	Legal since 1971 + UN decl. sign.	Registered partnership since 2002	From March 2017	Step-child adoption since 2009. Joint adoption from March 2017.		Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Legal change and recognition is possible only with sterilisation.
Iceland	Legal since 1940 (As part of Denmark) + UN decl. sign.	Registered cohabitation since 2006; Registered partnership from 1996 to 2010 (Existing partnerships are still recognised.)	Legal since 2010	Legal since 2006	Has no military	Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Documents can be amended to the recognised gender.
Latvia	Legal since 1992 + UN decl. sign.		Constitutionally banned since 2006	LGBT individuals may adopt.		Bans some anti-gay discrimination	Documents are amended accordingly, no medical intervention required.
Lithuania	Legal since 1993 + UN decl. sign.	(Pending)	Constitutionally banned since 1992	Only married couples can adopt.		Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Gender change is legal since 2003.
Norway	Legal since 1972 + UN decl. sign.	Registered partnership from 1993 to 2009 (Existing partnerships are still recognised.)	Legal since 2009	Legal since 2009		Bans all anti-gay discrimination	All documents can be amended to the recognised gender.
Sweden	Legal since 1944 + UN decl. sign.	Registered partnership from 1995 to 2009 (Existing partnerships are still recognised.)	Legal since 2009	Legal since 2003		Bans all anti-gay discrimination

Southern Europe

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of same-sex unions	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
Akrotiri and Dhekelia (Overseas territory of the United Kingdom)	Legal since 2000 + UN decl. sign.				UK responsible for defence	Bans some anti-gay discrimination
Albania	Legal since 1995 + UN decl. sign.					Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Forbids discrimination based on gender identity. Gender change is not legal.
Andorra	Legal since 1990 + UN decl. sign.	Stable union since 2005; Civil union since 2014.		Legal since 2014	Has no military	Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Gender change is not legal.
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Legal since 1998 in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska since 2000 and Brcko District since 2001 + UN decl. sign.					Bans some anti-gay discrimination
Bulgaria	Legal since 1968 + UN decl. sign.		Constitutionally banned since 1991	LGBT individuals may adopt.		Bans all anti-gay discrimination	(Requires sterilisation for change). Forbids discrimination based on gender identity.
Cyprus	Legal since 1998 + UN decl. sign.	Civil Unions since 2015			(The only EU country to ban LGBT people in the military, not enforced)	Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Forbids discrimination based on gender identity. Gender change is not legal.
Gibraltar (Overseas territory of the United Kingdom)	Legal since 1993 + UN decl. sign.	Civil partnership since 2014		Legal since 2014	UK responsible for defence	Bans some anti-gay discrimination (Banning all anti-gay discrimination pending)	(Pending)
Greece	Legal since 1951 + UN decl. sign.	Civil partnership since 2015				Bans all anti-gay discrimination	(Requires sterilisation for change).
Italy	Legal since 1890 Legal in parts of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, along with Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol since 1919 (Illegal in parts of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, illegal in parts of Veneto, along with Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol from 1943-1945 under annexation of Nazi Germany) + UN decl. sign.	(Pending)	(Pending)	(Step-child adoption pending)		Bans some anti-gay discrimination	Since 1982 legal recognition and documents can be amended to the recognised gender. The Court of Cassation decided in 2015 that sterilisation is not required.
Macedonia	Legal since 1996 + UN decl. sign.		(Constitutional ban pending)
Malta	Legal since 1973 + UN decl. sign.	Civil union since 2014	/ Marriage performed abroad recognised since 2014	Legal since 2014		Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Since 2015.
Montenegro	Legal since 1977 (As part of Yugoslavia) + UN decl. sign.		Constitutionally banned since 2007			Bans all anti-gay discrimination	(Requires sterilisation for change). Forbids discrimination based on gender identity.
Portugal	Legal since 1983 + UN decl. sign.	De facto union since 2001	Legal since 2010	Legal since 2015		Bans all anti-gay discrimination.	Since 2011. All documents can be amended to the recognised gender.
San Marino	Legal since 1865 + UN decl. sign.	/ Unregistered cohabitation since 2012 (Only for one entitlement)				Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Gender change is not legal.
Serbia	Legal from 1858, when nominally a vassal of Ottoman Empire to 1860 and again since 1994 (As part of Yugoslavia) + UN decl. sign.		Constitutionally banned since 2006			Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Gender change is legal since 2007.
Spain	Legal since 1979 + UN decl. sign.	Unregistered cohabitation since 1994. Since 1997, different cities and regions have legislated their own version of civil union.	Legal since 2005	Legal since 2005		Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Since 2007, all documents can be amended to the recognised gender
Turkey	Legal since 1858				(Proposed)	(Proposed)	(Requires sterilisation for change).
Vatican City	Legal since 1890 (As part of Italy)				Has no military

Western Europe

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of same-sex unions	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
Belgium	Legal nationwide since 1795 (As part of France) Legal in Eupen-Malmedy since 1919 (Illegal from 1944-1944/1945 as part of Reichskommissariat Belgien-Nordfrankreich and under annexation of Nazi Germany) + UN decl. sign.	Legal cohabitation since 2000	Legal since 2003	Legal since 2006		Bans all anti-gay discrimination	The 2007 law concerning transsexuality grants the right to a legal name and gender change. (Requires hormone treatment for name change and sterilisation for gender change).
France	Legal nationwide since 1791 Legal in Savoy since 1792 Legal in parts of Alpes-Maritimes, Bas-Rhin, Haute-Saône, Moselle, and Vosges since 1793 Legal in parts of Haut-Rhin since 1798 Legal in parts of Alpes-Maritimes, Hautes-Alpes and Savoie since 1890 (As part of Italy) (Illegal in Corsica under the Anglo-Corsican Kingdom from 1794-1796, illegal in parts of Alpes-Maritimes, along with Savoy from 1814-1860 under annexation of Kingdom of Sardinia, illegal in Alsace-Lorraine from 1871–1918 and 1940-1944/1945 under annexation of Imperial and Nazi Germany, and illegal in Nord and Pas-de-Calais from 1944-1944/1945 as part of Reichskommissariat Belgien-Nordfrankreich and under annexation of Nazi Germany) + UN decl. sign.	Civil solidarity pact since 1999	Legal since 2013	Legal since 2013		Bans all anti-gay discrimination	(Requires sterilisation for change).
Guernsey (Crown dependency of the United Kingdom)	Legal since 1983 + UN decl. sign.	/ Civil unions performed abroad recognised since 2015 (Proposed)	/ Marriages performed abroad recognised since 2015 (Proposed)	(Pending)	UK responsible for defence	Bans some anti-gay discrimination	2004 anti-discrimination law. Legal gender change since 2007: Case law only. Only allows a new birth certificate to be issued. Does not amend or remove records of existing birth certificates, extension to Alderney and Sark unclear, does extend to Herm.
Ireland	Male legal since 1993 Female always legal + UN decl. sign.	Civil partnership since 2011	Legal since 2015. Approved via referundum	Legal since 2015		Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Gender Recognition Act 2015
Isle of Man (Crown dependency of the United Kingdom)	Legal since 1992 + UN decl. sign.	Civil partnership since 2011	(Proposed)	Legal since 2011	UK responsible for defence	Bans some anti-gay discrimination	Transsexual persons are allowed to change their legal gender and to have their new gender recognised as a result of the Gender Recognition Act 2009 (c.11).
Jersey (Crown dependency of the United Kingdom)	Legal since 1990 + UN decl. sign.	Civil partnership since 2012	(Proposed)	Legal since 2012	UK responsible for defence	Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Gender Recognition (Jersey) Law 2010
Luxembourg	Legal since 1795 (As part of France) (Illegal from 1942-1944/1945 under annexation of Nazi Germany) + UN decl. sign.	Registered Partnership since 2004	Legal since 2015	Legal since 2015		Bans all anti-gay discrimination	(Requires sterilisation for change).
Monaco	Legal since 1793 (As part of France) + UN decl. sign.	(Pending)			France responsible for defence	Bans some anti-gay discrimination
Netherlands	Legal since 1811 (As part of France) (Illegal from 1940-1944/1945 as part of Reichskommissariat Niederlande) + UN decl. sign.	Registered partnership since 1998	Legal since 2001	Legal since 2001		Bans all anti-gay discrimination
United Kingdom	Male legal in England and Wales since 1967, in Scotland since 1981, and in Northern Ireland since 1982 Female always legal + UN decl. sign.	Civil partnership since 2005	Legal in England, Wales and Scotland since 2014. Illegal in Northern Ireland	Legal in England and Wales since 2005, in Scotland since 2009 and Northern Ireland since 2013		Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Gender Recognition Act 2004.

Partially recognised or unrecognised states

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of same-sex unions	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
Abkhazia	Legal after 1991
Luhansk People's Republic	Illegal since 2014. Penalty: 5 years imprisonment, 4 years "corrective labour"
Kosovo	Legal from 1858, when part of the Ottoman Empire, again in 1994 (As part of Yugoslavia)			LGBT individuals may adopt.		Bans all anti-gay discrimination
Nagorno-Karabakh	Legal since 2000
Northern Cyprus	Legal since 2014					Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Discrimination or hate speech banned since 2014. Unknown if gender change is legal.
Donetsk People's Republic	Illegal since 2014
South Ossetia	Legal after 1991
Transnistria	Legal since 2002					(Proposed)

Oceania

Main article: LGBT rights in Oceania

Tables:

Australasia

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of same-sex unions	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
Australia (including territories of Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Norfolk Island)	Legal in South Australia since 1972, in Victoria since 1981, New South Wales since 1983, the Northern Territory since 1984, the Australian Capital Territory since 1985, Western Australia since 1990, Queensland since 1991, Norfolk Island since 1993 and Tasmania since 1997 Legal in Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Age of consent discrepancy in Queensland only) + UN decl. sign.	Unregistered cohabitation since 2009 Domestic patnership in Tasmania (2004), South Australia (2007), Victoria (2008), New South Wales (2010) and Queensland (2012); Civil union in the Australian Capital Territory (2012)	Banned federally under the Marriage Amendment Act 2004 (Pending)	/ Joint adoption in Western Australia (2002), the Australian Capital Territory (2004), New South Wales (2010) and Tasmania (2013); Step-child adoption in Victoria (2007); Banned in South Australia, Queensland and Northern Territory	Since 1992	Bans all anti-gay discrimination.
New Zealand	Legal since 1986 + UN decl. sign.	Unregistered cohabitation since 2001; Civil union since 2005.	Legal since 2013	Legal since 2013 for married couples and individuals (Banned for unmarried and civil union couples regardless of sexual orientation)	Since 1993	Bans all anti-gay discrimination	Covered under the "sex discrimination" provision of the Human Rights Act 1993 since 2006.

Melanesia

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of same-sex unions	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
Fiji	Legal since 2010 + UN decl. sign.					Bans some anti-gay discrimination
New Caledonia (overseas collectivity of France)	Legal (No laws against same-sex sexual activity has ever existed in the collectivity) + UN decl. sign.	Civil solidarity pact since 2009	Legal since 2013	Legal since 2013	French responsibility	Bans all anti-gay discrimination	(Requires sterilization for change)
Papua New Guinea	Male illegal Penalty: 3 to 14 years imprisonment (Not enforced) Female always legal
Solomon Islands	Illegal Penalty: Up to 14 years imprisonment.				Has no military
Vanuatu	Legal since 2007 + UN decl. sign.

Micronesia

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of same-sex unions	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
Guam (Unincorporated territory of the United States)	Legal since 1978 + UN decl. sign.	Since 2015	Legal since 2015	Legal since 2002	US responsibility	Bans some anti-gay discrimination. The US hate crime laws apply to all US external territories as well	Bans some discrimination relating to gender identity or expression. The US hate crime laws also apply to all US external territories as well
Federated States of Micronesia	Legal + UN decl. sign.				Has no military
Kiribati	Male illegal Penalty: 5-14 years imprisonment (Not enforced) Female legal				Has no military
Marshall Islands	Legal since 2005 + UN decl. sign.				Has no military
Nauru	Male illegal Penalty: 3-14 years imprisonment (Not enforced) Female legal + UN decl. sign.				Has no military
Northern Mariana Islands (Unincorporated territory of the United States)	Legal since 1983 + UN decl. sign.	Since 2015	Legal since 2015	Legal since 2015	US responsibility	The US hate crime laws also apply to all US external territories as well	The US hate crime laws also apply to all US external territories as well
Palau	Legal since 2014 + UN decl. sign.		Constitutional ban since 2008		Has no military

Polynesia

LGBT rights in:	Same-sex sexual activity	Recognition of same-sex unions	Same-sex marriage	Adoption by same-sex couples	LGB allowed to serve openly in military?	Anti-discrimination laws concerning sexual orientation	Laws concerning gender identity/expression
American Samoa (Unincorporated territory of the United States)	Legal since 1980 + UN decl. sign.				US responsibility	The US hate crime laws also apply to all US external territories as well	The US hate crime laws also apply to all US external territories as well
Easter Island (Overseas territory of Chile)	Legal since 1999 (Age of consent discrepancy) + UN decl. sign.	Civil union since 2015.	(Pending)	LGBT individuals may adopt (Pending)	Chile responsible for defence.		Since 2007.
Cook Islands (Part of the Realm of New Zealand)	Male illegal Penalty: 5-14 years imprisonment (Not enforced) Female legal + UN decl. sign.				New Zealand's responsibility	Bans some anti-gay discrimination
French Polynesia (Overseas collectivity of France)	Legal (No laws against same-sex sexual activity has ever existed in the collectivity) + UN decl. sign.	Since 2013	Legal since 2013	Legal since 2013	French responsibility	Bans all anti-gay discrimination	(Requires sterilization for change)
Niue (Part of the Realm of New Zealand)	Legal since 2007 + UN decl. sign.				New Zealand's responsibility
Pitcairn Islands (Overseas territory of the United Kingdom)	Legal since 2001 + UN decl. sign.	Since 2015	Legal since 2015	Legal since 2015	UK responsible for defence	Constitutional ban on discrimination.
Samoa	Male illegal Penalty: 5-7 years imprisonment (Not enforced) Female always legal + UN decl. sign.				Has no military	Bans some anti-gay discrimination	Samoa has a large transgender or "third-gendered" community called the Fa'afafine. This is a recognized part of traditional Samoan customs, and usually refers to trans women.
Tokelau (Part of the Realm of New Zealand)	Legal since 2007 + UN decl. sign.				New Zealand's responsibility
Tonga	Male illegal Penalty: Up to 10 years imprisonment and whipping (Not enforced) Female always legal
Tuvalu	Male illegal Penalty: Up to 14 years imprisonment (Not enforced) Female legal + UN decl. sign.				Has no military
Wallis and Futuna (Overseas collectivity of France)	Legal (No laws against same-sex sexual activity has ever existed in the collectivity) + UN decl. sign.	Civil solidarity pact since 2009	Legal since 2013	Legal since 2013	French responsibility	Bans all anti-gay discrimination	(Requires sterilization for change)

See also

• Buggery
• Civil union
• Heterosexism
• Homophobia
• Intersex human rights
• Movements for civil rights
• Transphobia
• List of human rights articles by country
• List of LGBT rights articles by region
• List of transgender-rights organizations
• LGBT people in prison
• Religion and homosexuality
• Same-sex marriage
• Sexual revolution
• Socialism and LGBT rights
• Societal attitudes toward homosexuality
• Status of same-sex marriage
• Yogyakarta Principles

External links

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• International Lesbian and Gay Association
  • State-sponsored Homophobia report (2012 edition)
  • Lesbian and Gay Rights in the World map (2012 edition)
• Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual: Law at DMOZ
• Amnesty International USA: LGBT legal status around the world — interactive map
• GayLawNet: Laws — information by country
• International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission
  • Resource links — for researching legal information
• International Commission of Jurists, Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Justice - A Comparative Law Casebook
• United Nations Human Rights Council, Discriminatory laws and practices and acts of violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity, an annual report

See also

• History of bisexuals
• History of lesbians
• List of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender firsts by year
• Timeline of LGBT history
• ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries, Los Angeles
• GLBT Historical Society, San Francisco
• IHLIA LGBT Heritage, Amsterdam
• Lesbian Herstory Archives, Brooklyn, NY
• June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives, West Hollywood, CA
• Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives, Toronto, Canada
• Schwules Museum, Berlin, Germany
• Centrum Schwule Geschichte, Cologne, Germany
• Leather Archives and Museum, Chicago
• Legal Precedent (2009), Right to change legal names female to male and vice versa for people transgender and intersex by the approval of the 2008 Constitution of Ecuador.
• Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies, Minneapolis, MN
• Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives, Melbourne, Australia

Homosexuality and Pedophilia

References

• Denina, Chris. "Gay Club Loses Touro OK." Vallejo Times-Herald September 9, 2006: A1

Further reading

• Bullough, Vern L., et al., (ed.) Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historical Context. New York, London, Oxford: Harrington Park Press, 2002. ISBN 978-1-56023-192-9
• Chauncey, George. Gay New York: Gender, Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890–1940. New York: BasicBooks, 1994.
• Dynes, Wayne R. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Homosexuality. New York and London, Garland Publishing, 1990. ISBN 978-0-8240-6544-7
• Johansson, Warren and Percy, William A. Outing: Shattering the Conspiracy of Silence. New York and London: Haworth Press, 1994. ISBN 978-1-56024-419-6
• Meeker, Martin. Contacts Desired: Gay and Lesbian Communications and Community, 1940s–1970s. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006.
• Parkinson, R. B. A Little Gay History: Desire and Diversity Across the World. London: British Museum Press and New York: University of Columbia Press 2013.
• Stein, Marc, ed. Encyclopedia of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered History in America. 3 vols. New York: Charles Scribners' Sons, 2003.
• Bronski, Michael. A Queer History of the United States. Boston: Beacon Press, 2012. ISBN 978-0-8070-4465-0

External links

• Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual history links at DMOZ
• OutHistory.org
• A left-wing analysis of the history of LGBT politics and the state of the movement from International Socialism journal
• The Politics of Homosexuality resources
• "Out Of The Past" PBS Documentary On Gay American History
• BBC – United Kingdom Celebrates Gay History Month
• GLBT Historical Society
• Homosexuality: Issues and Articles
• Sources for the study of lesbian, gay, bi and trans history in Sheffield, UK Produced by Sheffield City Council's Libraries and Archives
• NYC Not Kansas: A personal history of gay life in Manhattan 1959-2000
• Quist - Mobile app about LGBT history