ILGA 2019 report: State of homophobia in the world

Eleven countries still punish homosexual relationships with death

GAYLES.TV.- «As of March 2019, 70 states continue to criminalize consensual same-sex activities. In 44 of these states the law applies to people regardless of gender«Says Lucas Ramón Mendos, author of the 13th edition of «201 State Homophobia Report9 ″ published by the ILGA (International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association).

«In the last two years there have been important advances: India, Trinidad and Tobago and Angola They were the last to repeal those laws. We hope that this will contribute to greater change in your regions. However, this global advance is also accompanied by setbacks: in 2017, Chad criminalized consensual sexual acts between people of the same sex, a worrying example of legal backsliding." Explain Mendos.

Currently there are 6 UN Member States that impose the death penalty to consensual sexual acts between persons of the same sex, and other 5 States in which such punishment is technically possible. In other 26 countries the maximum penalty may vary between 10 years and life imprisonment.

At least 32 Member States of the UN have established provisions that limit the freedom of expression of people, including propaganda laws that prohibit the "promotion" of homosexuality or "non-traditional" sexual relationships; 41 States put barriers to NGOs working on sexual orientation issues from being registered or operating regularly, putting human rights defenders at greater risk.

On the other hand, legislation that protects lesbian, gay and bisexual people from discrimination and violence has expanded in recent years, albeit at a slower pace than we expected.

The number of Member States of the United Nations that prohibit nucleosides de «conversion" there are still three, but there is also progress at the subnational level, where local legislatures have prohibited such practices. The legal provisions that protect against discrimination in employment they are now a reality in the 38% of the States.

When it comes to protecting and recognizing our relationships and families, the marriage equality 4 has more states in recent years, while others 27 guarantee recognition of de facto partners.

«These are not just numbers, but laws that really impact the daily lives of people of diverse sexual orientations around the world », they commented Ruth Baldacchino and Helen Kennedy, General Co-Secretaries of ILGA. "Positive laws make a difference: they can help change public attitudes and, specifically, tell people that they are equally worthy of rights."

Key figures to understand the state of homophobia in the world:

In 123 Member States of the UN, consensual sexual acts between adults of the same sex are legal.
70 Member States of the UN continue penalizing consensual sexual acts between adults of the same sex (68 through explicit provisions of the law, 2 de facto).
La death penalty for consensual sexual acts between persons of the same sex is imposed in 6 UN member states. In 4 of them (Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Sudan) it is applied throughout the State; in 2 (Somalia, Nigeria) it applies only to specific provinces. There are five other States (Pakistan, Afghanistan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Mauritania) where such a penalty is still possible.
32 States have laws that restrict freedom of expression on issues of sexual orientation and gender identity.
41 States pose barriers to the formation, establishment or registration of NGO related to sexual orientation
73 States have laws that protect against discrimination in the workplace for reasons of sexual orientation
9 States contain constitutional provisions that specify sexual orientation in their protections against discrimination.
39 States have laws that punish the acts of incitement to hatred, discrimination or violence based on sexual orientation; 42 States impose more severe penalties for crimes motivated by hatred towards the sexual orientation of the victim
26 States recognize the wedding between people of the same sex; 27 States anticipate some kind of recognition of the couple
28 States have joint adoption laws, while 30 States allow the adoption of a second father of the same sex.