At a time when marriage equality has been enshrined in law across a growing number of countries, more than sixty nations continue to treat consensual same-sex relations as a criminal matter. According to current data, 61 countries maintain active legislation criminalising same-sex sexual conduct — a figure that represents approximately twice the number of countries that have legalised same-sex marriage. The geographic distribution of these laws is heavily concentrated in Africa, with additional examples found across parts of Asia, Oceania, and the Caribbean.
A significant proportion of these laws were not products of independent national legislation but were inherited from European colonial administrations. In many cases, the former colonial powers have long since repealed equivalent statutes within their own borders, while the inherited laws have remained on the books of former colonies — sometimes enforced actively, sometimes not.
At the most severe end of the penalty scale, Iran remains the only country known to carry out executions for same-sex sexual conduct in practice. Afghanistan, following the Taliban's return to power in 2021, reinstated capital punishment for same-sex relations under its interpretation of religious law. Brunei similarly provides for the death penalty for male same-sex relations and corporal punishment for female same-sex relations under legislation introduced in the colonial era and subsequently amended.
Across Africa, the legal landscape varies considerably in severity but remains broadly hostile. Algeria criminalises same-sex conduct under a 1966 penal code, with sentences of up to three years. Cameroon provides for between six months and five years imprisonment. Burundi's penal code sets a maximum of two years. Eritrea imposes between five and seven years. Chad, in a 2017 vote of 111 to 1 in its national assembly, enacted legislation carrying sentences of three months to two years.
Burkina Faso passed legislation in September 2025 extending criminalisation beyond sexual conduct to encompass all same-sex relationships, with sentences of two to five years — among the broadest in scope of any recent criminalisation law.
In Asia, Bangladesh applies a provision of its penal code dating to 1860, under which same-sex relations may be punished by sentences ranging from ten years to life imprisonment. Iran's Islamic Penal Code of 2013 contains multiple provisions addressing same-sex conduct, with enforcement of capital punishment documented in practice.
In the Caribbean, Grenada's 1987 criminal code provides for up to ten years imprisonment for sexual conduct between men. Guyana stands as the only country on the South American mainland or in the broader Americas to maintain criminalisation of homosexuality, with penalties extending to life imprisonment in the most serious cases.
Ghana's legislation is notable in its scope, extending beyond the criminalisation of same-sex sexual relations to penalise what its statute terms unnatural carnal knowledge, carrying up to three years imprisonment — reflecting a legislative approach that reaches further than conduct-specific prohibitions.
The existence of 61 criminalising jurisdictions alongside a growing body of equality-affirming legislation elsewhere reflects a profound and widening divergence in the global treatment of LGBTQ+ rights. International human rights organisations continue to call for the repeal of criminalising laws, many of which derive directly from colonial-era statutes that the originating countries themselves have long abandoned.
European Editorial Office: John
