Which countries dont allow gay marriage
Same-sex marriage represents a critical milestone in the LGBTQ+ rights movement, allowing couples of the equal sex to legally marry and collect the same marital benefits as heterosexual couples. The journey towards legalization has been varied across the globe, influenced by cultural, religious, and political factors. In some regions, the push for marriage equality has gained significant traction and achieved legal recognition, often after prolonged public and legal battles.
While complete marriage equality is celebrated in many places, an alternative approach through civil unions or national partnerships persists in others. These frameworks typically grant a subset of rights that marriage applications, focusing on aspects like property rights or hospital visitation. However, they often fall short in areas such as inheritance, pension rights, and parental responsibilities, highlighting a gap in the legal recognition of relationships.
The acceptance and implementation of same-sex marriage have brought substantial legal benefits, including inheritance rights, tax reductions, and enhanced health insurance options, which are decisive for the security and well-being of families. This progr
Marriage Equality Around the World
The Human Rights Campaign tracks developments in the legal recognition of same-sex marriage around the world. Working through a worldwide network of HRC global alumni and partners, we lift up the voices of community, national and regional advocates and share tools, resources, and lessons learned to enable movements for marriage equality.
Current State of Marriage Equality
There are currently 38 countries where same-sex marriage is legal: Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Uruguay.
These countries have legalized marriage equality through both legislation and court decisions.
Countries that Legalized Marriage Equality in 2025
Liechtenstein: On May 16, 2024, Liechtenstein's government passed a bill in favor of marriage equality. The law went into effect January 1, 2025.
Gay relationships are still criminalised in 72 countries, report finds
Fifty years after homosexuality was decriminalised in England and Wales, 72 other countries and territories worldwide continue to criminalise same-sex relationships, including 45 in which sexual relationships between women are outlawed.
There are eight countries in which homosexuality can result in a death penalty, and dozens more in which gay acts can fallout in a prison sentence, according to an annual state by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bi-curious, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA).
Southern and east Africa, the Middle East and south Asia persist with the most draconian approaches. Western Europe and the western hemisphere are the most tolerant.
But Britain was by no means a frontrunner when it moved 50 years ago to partly decriminalise homosexuality. Some 20 other countries had already led the way, including France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Brazil and Argentina, all of whom had legalised it well before 1900.
In Iran, Sudan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, homosexuality is still punishable by death, under sharia law. The alike applies in parts of Somalia and northern Nigeria. In two other countr
Which countries impose the death penalty on gay people?
Around the world, queer people continue to face discrimination, violence, harassment and social stigma. While social movements have marked progress towards acceptance in many countries, in others homosexuality continues to be outlawed and penalised, sometimes with death.
According to Statistica Research Department, as of 2024, homosexuality is criminalised in 64 countries globally, with most of these nations situated in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. In 12 of these countries, the death penalty is either enforced or remains a possibility for personal, consensual same-sex sexual activity.
In many cases, the laws only apply to sexual relations between two men, but 38 countries contain amendments that include those between women in their definitions.
These penalisations represent abuses of human rights, especially the rights to freedom of expression, the right to develop one's own individuality and the right to life.
Which countries enforce the death penalty for homosexuality?
Saudi Arabia
The Wahabbi interpretation of Sharia law in Saudi Arabia maintains that acts of homosexuality should be disciplined in the sa
The tin anniversary – a review of the status of same-sex relationships around the world
Posted: 28/03/2024
On 29 March 2024, it will be the 10-year anniversary of the first queer marriage ceremony in England. It is sometimes manageable to forget that up until 1967 homosexuality was illegal in this territory. Interestingly, it was never illegal to be queer woman , perhaps one of the few ways women were historically overlooked by rule makers which had an inadvertently positive effect!
It may come as a shock to some same-sex couples who move abroad that their relationship might not be recognised, or they may even be treated differently than a heterosexual couple in their unused home country if their relationship or marriage ends.
In England, there are a myriad of financial claims arising from the breakdown of a marriage or civil partnership, and these rights could be clueless if you move abroad.
In contrast, cohabiting couples in England still face limited financial protection on separation despite calls for reform. Our International Family Rule Report: The Cohabitation Conundrum summarises the legal remedies for cohabiting couples on the breakdown of their relationship in England an