Pride 2024: in 60 countries around the world being gay is a crime

There are still nations in the world where it is a crime to be gay. These are 60 of the 193 countries of the United Nations, which by law consider it a crime to have consensual same-sex relations. And although the global trend is to extendLgbtq+ rights, many states, especially in Africa and Asia, still apply harsh punishments ranging from several years in prison to egrasthylation, from flogging to the death penalty.

The latter is currently envisaged in Brunei, Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and some northern regions of Nigeria. And it is potentially applicable - given the lack of legal clarity - in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Qatar, Somalia and the United Arab Emirates.

In 2024, having sexual orientations, gender identity or expression that differs from the traditional binary reading of the world, man-woman, may therefore mean not being free to love. And there are cases in which, despite the fact that the law does not provide for any punishment, this is not enough to make the country safe for the LGBT+ community, so much so that, for example, the US State Department invites its citizens to be careful when travelling abroad in the month and at Pride venues precisely because of the increased risk of violence.

Yet at the normative level, there is no shortage in the world of rights achievements for the Lgbtq+ communities even in this 2024. The latest was the approval in Thailand. of the recognition of marriages between same-sex couples. The third law in this direction on the continent after Taiwan and Nepal. Bangkok's choice follows the push towards greater protection that since the beginning of 2023 has also led Andorra, Estonia, Greece and Slovenia to recognise same-sex marriages, and Bolivia, Latvia and some Japanese prefectures to legalise the civil unions of same-sex couples. Although, globally, there are still few implementations of legislation against hate crimes and discrimination, several bills are under discussion or awaiting approval in the various parliaments. Moreover, to date, seventeen countries allow citizens to self-identify their gender and in at least eighteen UN states there is a 'non-binary' option on identity documents.

Recent progress, however, is countered almost everywhere by resistance and setbacks. While Mauritius, Singapore, the Dominican Republic and the Cook Islands have decriminalised consensual same-sex relations since January 2023, in other areas the regressions are clear. This is the case in Ghana, which has introduced strict regulations and severe penalties in recent years. Moreover, following a proposal approved in February, calling oneself gay and forming or financing LGBT+ support groups is illegal in the country and punishable by imprisonment. Along the same punitive line is Uganda, where since last year the rules, among the most restrictive in the world, provide for up to life imprisonment for consensual sexual acts and the death penalty for 'aggravated homosexuality'. Not even contexts in which freedom and rights are guaranteed by law are completely safe, nor are they free of closures. This is the case, for example, in Singapore, where, despite the abolition in 2022 of the rule that made same-sex relationships between men illegal, the LGBT+ communities remain discriminated against, their presence in TV programmes is rare and representations are stereotyped.