View source for Sodomy law

{{short description|Laws criminalising certain sexual acts}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
[[File:Penalización de la homosexualidad por país.png|thumb|520px|Legal status of sodomy laws around the world as of 2024:
{{legend|#3f9bbb|Legal}}
{{legend|#cc7662|Illegal}}]]
{{Sex and the Law}} {{Discrimination sidebar}}
A '''sodomy law''' is a law that defines certain [[Human sexual activity|sexual acts]] as [[Sex and the law|crimes]]. The precise sexual acts meant by the term ''[[sodomy]]'' are rarely spelled out in the law, but are typically understood and defined by many courts and jurisdictions to include any or all forms of sexual acts that are  illegal, illicit, unlawful, unnatural and immoral.<ref>{{cite book | last = Weeks | first = Jeff | title =Sex, Politics and Society: The Regulation of Sexuality Since 1800 | publisher = Longman Publishing Group |date=January 1981 | location = London | isbn = 0-582-48334-4}}</ref> Sodomy typically includes [[anal sex]], [[oral sex]], [[Non-penetrative sex#Manual sex|manual sex]], and [[zoophilia|bestiality]].<ref name="Phelps">{{cite book| first= Shirelle |last= Phelps|title=World of Criminal Justice: N-Z|publisher=[[Gale (publisher)|Gale Group]]|year=2001|page=686|isbn =0787650730|access-date=13 January 2014 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=izwvAQAAIAAJ&q=World+of+Criminal+Justice:+N-Z.}}</ref><ref name="Scheb">{{cite book| first1= John |last1= Scheb| first2= John II |last2= Scheb |title= Criminal Law and Procedure|publisher=[[Cengage Learning]]|year=2013|page=185|isbn =978-1285546131|access-date=13 January 2014 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=VZoWAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA185}}</ref><ref name="Newton">{{cite book| first= David| last= Newton|title=Gay and Lesbian Rights: A Reference Handbook| edition= 2nd |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]]|year=2009|page=85|isbn =978-1598843071|access-date=13 January 2014|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gjcUFK4RZNcC&pg=PA85}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| last = Turvey | first = Brent E. |title=Forensic Victimology: Examining Violent Crime Victims in Investigative and Legal Contexts|publisher=Elsevier Science|year=2023|page=465|access-date=November 5, 2023|isbn=978-0-12821-769-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1MCqEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA465}}</ref> In practice, sodomy laws have rarely been enforced to target against sexual activities between individuals of the opposite sex, and have mostly been used to target against sexual activities between individuals of the same sex.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/64542/unnatural-law| title=Unnatural Law |last=Sullivan |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Sullivan |date=24 March 2003 |magazine=The New Republic |access-date=12 November 2020 |volume=228 |issue=11}}</ref>

As of June 2024, 61 countries as well as 3 sub-national jurisdictions{{efn| These sub-national jurisdictions are: the province of Aceh (Indonesia), Gaza (Palestine) and Chechnya (Russia).}} have laws that [[Criminalization of homosexuality|criminalize sexual activity between 2 individuals of the same-sex]].<ref name= ILGA-2019 /> In 2006 that number was 92.<ref>{{cite web| url= https://76crimes.com/76-countries-where-homosexuality-is-illegal/| website= 76crimes.com| title= 71 Countries Where Homosexuality is Illegal| publisher= | date= | access-date= 30 September 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.washingtonblade.com/2020/07/08/gabon-formally-decriminalizes-homosexuality/ |title= Gabon formally decriminalizes homosexuality| work= [[Washington Blade]] |date=8 July 2020| first= Kaela |last= Roeder| access-date= 30 September 2021}}</ref> Among these 62 countries, 40 of them not only criminalize male same-sex sexual activity but also have laws that criminalize female same-sex sexual activity. In 11 of them, sexual activity between two individuals of the same-sex is [[Capital punishment for homosexuality|punishable with the death penalty]].<ref name= ILGA-2019 />{{rp|15}}

In 2011, the [[United Nations Human Rights Council]] passed an [[LGBT rights]] resolution, which was followed up by a report published by the UN Human Rights Commissioner which included scrutiny of the mentioned codes. In March 2022, the [[Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women]] found that laws criminalizing consensual same-sex activity between women are a human rights violation. This case, brought by [[Rosanna Flamer-Caldera]], was the first [[United Nations]] case to focus on lesbian and bisexual women.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.advocate.com/voices/lgbtq-victories-did-happen-in-2023|title=LGBTQ+ Victories Did Happen in 2023|website=www.advocate.com}}</ref>

== History ==
===Criminalization===
[[File:Burning of Sodomites.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Burning of the accused sodomites [[Richard Puller von Hohenburg]] and his servant Anton Mätzler outside the walls of [[Zürich]], 1482 (from the ''[[Spiezer Schilling]]'' chronicle)]]
The Middle [[Assyria]]n [[Assyrian law|Law Codes]] (1075 BCE) state: If a man has intercourse with his brother-in-arms, they shall turn him into a [[eunuch]]. This is the earliest known law condemning the act of male-to-male intercourse in the military.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/1075assyriancode.html|title=The Code of the Assura, c. 1075 BCE| via= fordham.edu |access-date=10 March 2015}}</ref>

In the [[Roman Republic]], the ''[[Lex Scantinia]]'' (which is first described in documents dating back to 50 BCE) imposed penalties on those who committed a sex crime ''([[stuprum]])'' against a [[Sexuality in ancient Rome#Sexuality and children|freeborn male minor]]. The law may also have been used to prosecute male citizens who willingly played the [[Homosexuality in ancient Rome|passive role in same-sex acts]].<ref>{{cite book| first= Thomas A. J. |last= McGinn| title= Prostitution, Sexuality and the Law in Ancient Rome| publisher= Oxford University Press| year= 1998| pages= 140–141}}</ref><ref name= Richlin>{{cite book| first= Amy |last= Richlin| author-link=Amy Richlin | title= The Garden of Priapus: Sexuality and Aggression in Roman Humor| publisher= Oxford University Press| year= 1983| edition= 1992}}</ref>{{rp|86, 224}}<ref name= Boswell-CSTH>{{cite book| first= John |last= Boswell| title= Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century| publisher= University of Chicago Press| year= 1980}}</ref>{{rp|63, 67–68}}<ref>{{cite book| first= Craig |last= Williams| title= Roman Homosexuality: Ideologies of Masculinity in Classical Antiquity| publisher= Oxford University Press| year= 1999| page= 116}}</ref> The law was mentioned in literary sources but enforced infrequently; [[Domitian]] revived it during his program of judicial and moral reform.<ref>{{cite book| first= James L. |last= Butrica| chapter= Some Myths and Anomalies in the Study of Roman Sexuality| title= Same-Sex Desire and Love in Greco-Roman Antiquity and in the Classical Tradition| publisher= Haworth Press| year= 2005| page= 231| isbn= }}</ref> It is unclear whether the penalty was death or a fine. For [[Male sexuality in ancient Rome|adult male citizens]] to experience and act on homoerotic desire was considered permissible, as long as their partner was a male [[Sexuality in ancient Rome#Pleasure and infamy|of lower social standing]].<ref name= Richlin />{{rp|225}}<ref>{{cite journal| first= Amy |last= Richlin| title= Not before Homosexuality: The Materiality of the ''cinaedus'' and the Roman Law against Love between Men| journal= Journal of the History of Sexuality| volume= 3| number= 4 | year= 1993| page= 525}}</ref> [[Pederasty in ancient Rome]] was acceptable only when the younger partner was a [[Prostitution in ancient Rome|prostitute]] or [[Slavery in ancient Rome|slave]].

Intolerance of same-sex acts appears to have intensified in the [[Roman Empire]] in the late 4th century; in 390 the emperor [[Theodosius I|Theodosius]] ordered that male prostitutes were to be [[Death by burning|publicly burned]], although it is uncertain to what extent this decree was actually carried out.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Peter |title=The Body and Society: Men, Women and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |year=1988 |isbn=0-231-06100-5 |location=New York |pages=383}}</ref> Starting in the 1200s, the [[Roman Catholic Church]] launched a campaign against homosexual activity. <ref name= Boswell-CSTH /> Between the years 1250 and 1300, homosexual activity was criminalized in most of Europe, possibly even punishable by death.<ref name= Boswell-CSTH />{{rp|293}}

In [[England]], [[Henry VIII of England|Henry VIII]] introduced the first legislation under English criminal law against sodomy with the [[Buggery Act 1533]], making [[buggery]] punishable by [[hanging]], a penalty not lifted until 1861.

Following Sir [[William Blackstone]]'s ''[[Commentaries on the Laws of England]]'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/blackstone/bk4ch15.htm|work=Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England|title=Book the Fourth – Chapter the Fifteenth: Of Offences Against the Persons of Individuals |access-date=6 August 2006 |url-status=dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060907230432/http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/blackstone/bk4ch15.htm|archive-date=7 September 2006}}</ref> the crime of sodomy has often been defined only as the "abominable and detestable crime against nature", or some variation of the phrase. This language led to widely varying rulings about what specific acts were encompassed by its prohibition.

===Decriminalization===
{{See also|Decriminalization of homosexuality}}
[[File:Decriminalization of homosexuality by country or territory (remastered).svg|thumb|center|600px|'''Decriminalization of Homosexuality by Country or Territory'''
{{legend|#0000FF|1791–1850}}
{{legend|#00FF00|1850–1945}}
{{legend|#FFFF00|1946–1989}}
{{legend|#FFCC99|1990–present}}
{{legend|White|Unknown date of legalization of same-sex intercourse}}
{{legend|#cccccc|Same-sex sexual intercourse always legal}}
{{legend|#FF0000|Still criminalized}}]]
{{clear}}
{{Decriminalization of homosexuality timeline}}
In 1786 [[Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor|Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany]], abolishing [[death penalty]] for all crimes, became not only the first Western ruler to do so, but also the first ruler to abolish death penalty for sodomy (which was replaced by prison and hard labour).

In [[France]], it was the French Revolutionary penal code (issued in 1791) which for the first time struck down "sodomy" as a crime, decriminalizing it together with all "victimless-crimes" (sodomy, heresy, witchcraft, blasphemy), according with the concept that if there was no victim, there was no crime. The same principle was held true in the [[French Penal Code of 1810|Napoleon Penal Code]] in 1810, which was imposed on the large part of Europe then ruled by the [[French Empire (1804–1815)|French Empire]] and its cognate kings, thus decriminalizing sodomy in most of Continental Europe.

In 1830, Emperor [[Pedro I of Brazil]] signed a law into the Imperial Penal Code. It eliminates all references to sodomy.<ref>[http://www.brazzil.com/blamar00.htm ''Beyond Carnival'']. Green, James. [[The University of Chicago Press]]. 1999. {{in lang|pt}}</ref>

During the [[Ottoman Empire]], homosexuality was decriminalized in 1858 as part of wider reforms during the [[Tanzimat]] period.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://faith-matters.org/images/stories/fm-publications/the-tanzimat-final-web.pdf|title=The Tanzimat: Secular Reforms in the Ottoman Empire|author=Ishtiaq Hussain|publisher=Faith Matters|date=15 February 2011}}</ref><ref name="History">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-25927595 |title=Where is it illegal to be gay? |access-date=25 January 2015 |work=BBC News|date=10 February 2014 }}</ref>

The death penalty was not lifted in England and Wales until 1861.<ref>{{Britannica | id=1077994 | title=Gay rights movement | author=Levy, Michael }} (Section: "Gay rights prior to the 20th century")</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/24-25/100/section/61/enacted |title=Offences Against the Person Act 1861 - Section 61 |date= |website=legislation.gov.uk |publisher=The National Archives |access-date=21 April 2024 |quote=}}</ref>

In 1917, following the Bolshevik Revolution led by [[V.I. Lenin]] and [[Leon Trotsky]], [[Russia]] legalized homosexuality.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hazard |first1=John N. |title=Unity and Diversity in Socialist Law |journal=Law and Contemporary Problems |publisher=Duke Law |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=270–290 |url= https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3056&context=lcp|doi=10.2307/1190515 |jstor=1190515 |year=1965 }}</ref> However, when [[Joseph Stalin]] came to power in 1920s, these laws were reversed until homosexuality was effectively made illegal again by the government.<ref>{{cite book| last= West| first= Green| url= |title=Sociolegal Control of Homosexuality: A Multi-Nation Comparison| page= [https://books.google.com/books?id=AwD3FNUJjXwC&pg=PA223 224]| publisher= | via= Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| first= Mark| last= Sereisky| title= Great Soviet Encyclopedia| year= 1930| page= 593}}{{blockquote|Soviet legislation does not recognize so-called crimes against morality. Our laws proceed from the principle of protection of society and therefore countenance punishment only in those instances when juveniles and minors are the objects of homosexual interest ... while recognizing the incorrectness of homosexual development ... our society combines prophylactic and other therapeutic measures with all the necessary conditions for making the conflicts that afflict homosexuals as painless as possible and for resolving their typical estrangement from society within the collective}}</ref>

During the [[First Czechoslovak Republic]] (1918–1938), there was a movement to repeal sodomy laws. It has been claimed that this was the first campaign to repeal anti-gay laws that was spearheaded primarily by heterosexuals.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Himl |first1=Pavel |title= Oponentský posudek rigorózní práce Jana Seidla 'Úsilí o odtrestnění homosexuality za první republiky' |url=https://is.muni.cz/th/64594/ff_r/hi_seidl_himl.txt| website= is.muni.cz| language= Czech| trans-title= Opponent's review of Jan Seidl's rigorous thesis 'Efforts to Punish Homosexuality in the First Republic' |access-date=24 July 2018}}</ref>

After the publishing of the 1957 [[Wolfenden report]] in the [[United Kingdom|UK]], which asserted that "homosexual behaviour between consenting adults in private should no longer be a criminal offence", many western governments, including many U.S. states, repealed laws specifically against homosexual acts. However, by 2003, 13 U.S. states still criminalized homosexuality, along with many Missouri counties, and the territory of Puerto Rico, but in June 2003, the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]] ruled in ''[[Lawrence v. Texas]]'' that [[U.S. state|state]] laws criminalizing private, non-commercial sexual activity between consenting adults at home on the grounds of morality are unconstitutional since there is insufficient justification for intruding into people's liberty and privacy.

There have never been Western-style sodomy related laws in Taiwan,<ref name="AcademiaSinica"/> People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea, Poland, or Vietnam.{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}} Additionally, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia were part of the French colony of [[French Indochina|Indochina]]; male homosexual acts have been legal throughout the French Empire since the issuing of the aforementioned French Revolutionary penal code in 1791.

====Criminalization in modern days====
This trend among Western nations has not been followed in all other regions of the world (Africa, some parts of Asia and Oceania and even in five out of the 13 countries in the Caribbean Islands), where sodomy remains a crime. For example, male homosexual acts, at least in theory, could result in life imprisonment in Barbados until 2022, and can theoretically still result in life imprisonment in Guyana, although the legislation is [[Unenforced law|not enforced]].

As of 2024, sodomy related laws have been repealed or judicially struck down in all of Europe, North America, and South America, except for Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://76crimes.com/76-countries-where-homosexuality-is-illegal/ | title=69 countries where homosexuality is illegal }}</ref>

In Africa, male homosexual acts remain punishable by death in Mauritania and some parts of Nigeria and Somalia. Male and sometimes female homosexual acts are minor to major criminal offences in many other African countries; for example, life imprisonment is a prospective penalty in Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.<ref name= ILGA-2019>{{cite web| url= https://ilga.org/downloads/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2019.pdf| title= State Sponsored Homophobia| website= ILGA.org| year= 2019| publisher= International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association| access-date= 30 September 2021| archive-date= 22 December 2019| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191222220100/https://ilga.org/downloads/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2019.pdf| url-status= dead}}</ref> A notable exception is South Africa, where same-sex marriage is legal.

In Asia, male homosexual acts remain punishable by death in [[Afghanistan]], [[Iran]], [[Qatar]], [[Saudi Arabia]], the [[United Arab Emirates]], and [[Yemen]].<ref name= ILGA-2019 /> Anti-sodomy laws have been repealed in [[Israel]] (which recognises but does not perform same-sex marriages), [[Japan]], [[Kazakhstan]], the [[Philippines]], and [[Thailand]].<ref name="Thailand">[[United Nations Development Programme|UNDP]], [[United States Agency for International Development|USAID]] (2014). ''[https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/migration/asia_pacific_rbap/rbap-hhd-2014-blia-thailand-country-report_0.pdf Being LGBT in Asia: Thailand Country Report]'', p. 21. Bangkok. Retrieved 21 April 2024.</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Being LGBTI should be a crime<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ilga.org/downloads/07_THE_ILGA_RIWI_2016_GLOBAL_ATTITUDES_SURVEY_ON_LGBTI_PEOPLE.pdf |title=RIW Survey | publisher= International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association| website= ILGA.org| date= |access-date=24 January 2018}}</ref>!! % Agree !! % Disagree
|-
| Nigeria || 59 || 23
|-
| Ghana || 54 || 25
|-
| Pakistan || 54 || 28
|-
| Uganda || 53 || 31
|-
| Saudi Arabia || 49 || 32
|-
| Jordan || 47 || 31
|-
| Kenya || 46 || 37
|-
| UAE || 45 || 32
|-
| Egypt || 44 || 35
|-
| Zimbabwe || 44 || 33
|-
| Algeria || 43 || 35
|-
| Iraq || 43 || 35
|-
| Kazakhstan || 41 || 45
|-
| Morocco || 39 || 39
|-
| Indonesia || 38 || 37
|-
| Malaysia || 35 || 40
|-
| Turkey || 31 || 48
|-
| India || 31 || 50
|-
| Russia || 28 || 55
|-
| Israel || 24 || 59
|-
| Poland || 23 || 53
|-
| Ukraine || 22 || 56
|-
| South Africa || 22 || 61
|-
| UK || 22 || 61
|-
| Jamaica || 20 || 47
|-
| Trinidad and Tobago || 20 || 52
|-
| Philippines || 20 || 59
|-
| China || 20 || 59
|-
| Serbia || 19 || 58
|-
| Bolivia || 18 || 54
|-
| Dominican Republic || 18 || 56
|-
| France || 17 || 58
|-
| Vietnam || 17 || 61
|-
| Peru || 16 || 57
|-
| Australia || 15 || 66
|-
| Netherlands || 15 || 76
|-
| Nicaragua || 14 || 56
|-
| Ecuador || 14 || 59
|-
| Colombia || 13 || 60
|-
| Venezuela || 13 || 60
|-
| Chile || 13 || 65
|-
| United States || 13 || 65
|-
| Argentina || 13 || 67
|-
| Canada || 13 || 69
|-
| Spain || 13 || 72
|-
| Japan || 12 || 61
|-
| Mexico || 12 || 62
|-
| Costa Rica || 12 || 64
|-
| New Zealand || 12 || 64
|-
| Ireland || 12 || 73
|-
| Brazil || 11 || 68
|-
| Italy || 11 || 74
|-
| Croatia || 9 || 72
|-
| Portugal || 9 || 75
|}

== Sodomy-related legal positions by country ==
===Countries where same-sex sexual activity is legal===

==== Antigua and Barbuda ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Antigua and Barbuda}}
On 5 July 2022, the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court ruled that sections of the Penal Code that made consensual same-sex intimacy illegal in [[Antigua and Barbuda]] were unconstitutional, and therefore void.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Caribbean court finds anti-sodomy law unconstitutional |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/caribbean-court-finds-anti-sodomy-law-unconstitutional-86272966 |access-date=2022-07-06 |website=ABC News |language=en |archive-date=6 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706025433/https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/caribbean-court-finds-anti-sodomy-law-unconstitutional-86272966 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>

==== Australia ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Australia}}

Upon colonisation in 1788, Australia inherited laws from the United Kingdom including the [[Buggery Act 1533]].  These were retained in the criminal codes passed by the various colonial parliaments during the 19th century, and by the state parliaments after [[Federation]].<ref name=carbery>{{cite web |last=Carbery |first=Graham |title=Towards Homosexual Equality in Australian Criminal Law: A Brief History |year=2010 |edition=2nd |url=http://www.alga.org.au/files/towardsequality2ed.pdf |publisher=Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives Inc.}}</ref>

Following the [[Wolfenden report]], the [[Don Dunstan|Dunstan]] [[Australian Labor Party|Labor]] government introduced a ''consenting adults in private'' type legal defence in South Australia in 1972. This defence was initiated as a bill by Murray Hill, father of former [[defence minister]] [[Robert Hill (Australian politician)|Robert Hill]], and repealed the state's sodomy law in 1975.  The Campaign Against Moral Persecution during the 1970s raised the profile and acceptance of Australia's gay and lesbian communities, and other states and territories repealed their laws between 1976 and 1990. The exception was [[Tasmania]], which retained its laws until the [[Government of Australia|Federal Government]] and the United Nations [[Human Rights Committee]] forced their repeal in 1997.

Male homosexuality was decriminalised in the [[Australian Capital Territory]] in 1976, then [[Norfolk Island]] in 1993, following South Australia in 1975 and [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]] in 1981. At the time of legalization (for the above), the age of consent, rape, defences, etc. were all set gender-neutral and equal {{Citation needed|date=March 2007}}. Western Australia legalised male homosexuality in 1989 – Under the ''Law Reform (Decriminalization of Sodomy) Act 1989'', as did [[New South Wales]] and the [[Northern Territory]] in 1984 with unequal ages of consent of 18 for New South Wales and the Northern Territory and 21 for Western Australia. Then since 1997, the states and territories that retained different ages of consent or other vestiges of sodomy laws have tended to repeal them later; Western Australia did so in 2002, and New South Wales and the Northern Territory did so in 2003. Tasmania was the last state to decriminalise sodomy, doing so in 1997 after the groundbreaking cases of ''[[Toonen v Australia]]'' and ''Croome v Tasmania'' (it is also notable that Tasmania was the first jurisdiction to recognize same-sex couples in Australia since 2004 under the ''Relationships Act 2003''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/tas/consol_act/ra2003173/|title= Relationships Act 2003 |via= austlii.edu.au |access-date=10 March 2015}}</ref>). In 2016, Queensland became the final Australian jurisdiction to equalise its [[age of consent]] for all forms of sexual activity at 16 years, after reducing the age of consent for [[anal sex]] from 18 years.<ref name="archaic-end">{{cite news| last1= Burke| first1= Gail| title= Queensland lowers anal sex consent age to 16, ending 'archaic' law|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-15/queensland-standardises-age-of-consent-laws-anal-sex/7850112| access-date=17 September 2016|work=ABC News|agency=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|date=15 September 2016|language=en-AU}}</ref>

==== Barbados ====
Before the December 2022 ruling by the Barbados High Court that struck down buggery and gross indecency laws in Barbados,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Barbados to repeal its buggery & gross indecency laws |url=https://www.stvincenttimes.com/barbados-to-repeal-its-buggery-gross-indecency-laws/ |access-date=2022-12-13 |website=St Vincent Times |date=13 December 2022 |language=en-US}}</ref> same-sex and different-sex anal and oral sex were criminalised in Barbados under Chapter 154, Sections 9 and 12 of the ''Sexual Offences Act.'' Section 9 criminalised "buggery," regardless of whether the act was done in private and consensual, or whether it was done between two men or a man and a woman. Section 12 criminalised "serious indecency," which was defined as any act "involving the use of the genital organs for the purpose of arousing or gratifying sexual desire." Punishment for "buggery" was life imprisonment, while the maximum penalty for "serious indecency" was ten years in prison if the act was committed on or towards a person aged 16 or older.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/ngos/lgbti2.pdf|title=Chapter 154 Sexual Offences - The Laws of Barbados|publisher=Government of Barbados|via=[[Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights]]}}</ref> The law was rarely enforced, however.{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}

==== Botswana ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Botswana}}
Same-sex sexual acts became legal in Botswana on 11 June 2019. Previously, sodomy, whether heterosexual or homosexual, was criminalised, punishable by up to seven years' imprisonment. The law criminalising such sexual activity applied to both men and women. Initially, its application was limited to men only (similar to other colonies of the [[British Empire]]), however, a Botswana court found this to be discriminatory and that the law should apply to women as well.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newnownext.com/why-more-and-more-countries-are-making-it-illegal-to-be-a-lesbian-or-bi-woman/02/2017/|title=Why More And More Countries Are Making It Illegal To Be A Lesbian Or Bi Woman|first=Kristina|last=Marusic 2/22/2017|website=LOGO News}}</ref>

==== Brazil ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Brazil|Legal status of homosexuality in Brazil}}
[[Brazilian criminal law]] does not punish any sexual act performed by consenting adults, but allows for prosecution, under statutory rape laws, when one of the participants is under 14 years of age and the other an adult, as per Articles 217-A of the Brazilian Penal Code. Pedophilic acts are also criminalized by the Children and Teenager Statute, in articles 241-A to 241-E. Article 235 of the Brazilian Military Criminal Code – DL 1.001/69-, however, does incriminate any contact deemed to be libidinous, be it of a homosexual nature or not, made in any location subject to military administration. Since the article is entitled "Of pederasty or other libidinous acts", gay rights advocates claim that, since the Brazilian armed forces are composed almost exclusively of males, the article allows for witch-hunts against homosexuals in the military service. This article of the Military Criminal Code has been ruled partially unconstitutional by the Brazilian Supreme Court (ADPF 291), in a 2019 decision that considered incompatible with the Constitution the expressions "Of pederasty or others" (mentioned in the entitlement) and "homosexual or not" (contained in the article).

==== Canada ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Canada}}
Before 1859, the [[Province of Canada]] prosecuted sodomy under the English Buggery Act.  In 1859, the Province of Canada enacted its own [[buggery]] law in the Consolidated Statutes of Canada as an offence punishable by death.  Buggery remained punishable by death until 1869.  A broader law targeting all homosexual male sexual activity ("gross indecency") was passed in 1892, as part of a larger update to the criminal law of the new dominion of Canada.<ref>Criminal Code, 1892, SC 1892, c 29</ref> Changes to the ''[[Criminal Code (Canada)|Criminal Code]]'' in 1948 and 1961 were used to brand gay men as "criminal sexual psychopaths" and "dangerous sexual offenders."  These labels provided for indeterminate prison sentences.  Most famously, [[George Klippert]], a homosexual, was labelled a dangerous sexual offender and sentenced to life in prison, a sentence confirmed by the [[Supreme Court of Canada]] in 1967.<ref>{{cite book |url= http://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/4738/index.do?r=AAAAAQAFeW91dGgAAAAAAAAB |title= Klippert v. The Queen | publisher= Supreme Court of Canada| via= Lexum.com| year= 1967| access-date= 30 September 2021}}</ref> He was released in July 1971.<ref>{{cite news| url= https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/everett-klippert-lgbt-apology-1.4422190| title= Everett Klippert: The last Canadian to go to jail simply for being gay| first= Hilary |last= Bird | publisher= CBC News |date= 28 November 2017| access-date= 30 September 2021}}</ref>

Sodomy was decriminalized after the ''[[Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1968-69]]'' (Bill C-150) received royal assent on 27 June 1969. The offences of buggery and "gross indecency" were still in force, however the new act introduced exemptions for married couples, and any two consenting adults above the age of 21 regardless of gender or sexual orientation. The bill had been originally introduced in the House of Commons in 1967 by then Minister of Justice [[Pierre Trudeau]],<ref>{{citation |title=Journals of the House of Commons |volume=CXV |year=1968–69}}</ref> who famously stated that "there's no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation".<ref>{{cite video |people=Pierre Trudeau |date=21 December 1967 |title=The CBC Digital Archives Website |url= http://archives.cbc.ca/politics/rights_freedoms/clip/2671/ |publisher= [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]]| website= archives.cbc.ca| access-date=15 April 2008}}</ref>

Revisions to the ''Criminal Code'' in 1987 repealed the offence of "gross indecency", changed "buggery" to "anal intercourse" and reduced the age exemption from 21 to 18.<ref>''An Act to amend the Criminal Code and the Canada Evidence Act'', R.S.C. 1985 (3d Supp.), c. 19.</ref> Section 159 of the ''Criminal Code'' continued to criminalize anal sex in general, with exemptions (provided no more than two people are present) for husbands and wives, and two consenting parties above the age of 18.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/page-73.html#docCont|title=Criminal Code (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-46)|publisher=Department of Justice Canada| date= 23 April 2012|access-date=29 April 2012}}</ref>

Subsequent [[case law]] held that section 159 was [[constitutionality|unconstitutional]], thus anal sex was ''de facto'' legal between any two or more [[Consent to sexual activity|consenting]] persons above the [[age of consent]] (14). In the 1995 [[Court of Appeal for Ontario]] case ''R. v. M. (C.)'' the judges ruled that the law was unconstitutional on the basis that the specific exemptions based on marital status and age infringed on the [[social equality|equality rights]] guaranteed by [[Section Fifteen of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms|section 15]] of the [[Charter of Rights and Freedoms]], and constituted discrimination based on sexual orientation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.qrd.org/qrd/world/legal/youth.sodomy.law.ruling.txt |title=Ontario Youth Sodomy Law Ruling |access-date=24 January 2018}}</ref> A similar decision was made by the [[Quebec Court of Appeal]] in the 1998 case ''R. v. Roy''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.canlii.org/fr/qc/qcca/doc/1998/1998canlii12775/1998canlii12775.html|title=CanLII – 1998 CanLII 12775 (QC CA)|access-date=10 March 2015}}</ref> In a 2002 decision regarding a case in which three people were engaged in sexual intercourse, the [[Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta]] declared section 159 in its entirety to be null, including the provisions criminalizing anal sex when more than two persons are taking part or present.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.canlii.org/en/ab/abqb/doc/2002/2002abqb145/2002abqb145.html|title=R. v. Roth, 2002 ABQB 145 (CanLII)|access-date=12 June 2016}}</ref>

[[New Democratic Party|NDP]] [[member of parliament|MP]] [[Joe Comartin]] introduced [[private member's bill]]s in 2007 and 2011 to repeal section 159 of the ''Criminal Code'', however neither passed first reading.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&DocId=2896522&File=4|title=Bill C-438: An Act to amend the Criminal Code (consent)|date=2 May 2007|access-date=12 June 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&DocId=4952816&File=4|title=Bill C-628: An Act to amend the Criminal Code (consent) |date= 11 February 2011|access-date=12 June 2016}}</ref>

In June 2019, C-75 passed both houses of the [[Parliament of Canada]] and received [[royal assent]], repealing section 159 effective immediately and making the age of consent equal at 16 for all individuals.<ref>{{cite act |type=bill |date=21 June 2019 |legislature=Parliament of Canada |title=Bill C-75 |url= https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/bill/C-75/royal-assent}}</ref>

==== Chile ====
Consensual sex between two same-sex adults was decriminalized in 1999, but with a higher age of consent set at 18. Since August 2022, the age of consent was equalised to 14 with heterosexuals under a recently implemented law.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.washingtonblade.com/2022/08/04/chile-senate-votes-to-equalize-age-of-consent/ | title=Chile Senate votes to equalize age of consent | date=4 August 2022 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| url= http://web.derecho.uchile.cl/cej/rej14/ABR%20VVAA%20_4_x.pdf| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160828070917/http://web.derecho.uchile.cl/cej/rej14/ABR%20VVAA%20_4_x.pdf| url-status= dead| archive-date= 28 August 2016| title= La Inconstitucionalidad del Articulo 365 del Codigo Penal Informer en Derecho| trans-title= Unconstitutionality of article 365 of the Criminal Code. Legal Report| journal= Revista de Estudios de la Justicia| number= 14| year= 2011| via= uchile.cl| access-date= 30 September 2021}}</ref>

==== China ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in China}}
Sodomy was never explicitly criminalized in China, but private sex between unmarried people was illegal until 1997,<ref name=The>{{cite web |url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/20/china-unmarried-motherhood-remains-final-taboo|title=For Chinese women, unmarried motherhood remains the final taboo| first= Tania |last= Branigan|work=The Guardian|date=20 January 2014|access-date=10 March 2015}}</ref> and same-sex marriage is not legal in China. The [[Chinese Supreme Court]] ruled in 1957 that voluntary sodomy was not a criminal act.<ref name="zhlaw">{{Cite web|url=http://www.law-lib.com/Law/law_view.asp?id=1218| title= 最高人民法院关于成年人间自愿鸡奸是否犯罪问题的批复_全文 | language= Chinese| trans-title= Reply of the Supreme People's Court on whether voluntary sodomy among adults is a crime |via= law-lib.com|access-date= 15 August 2019}}</ref> Private sex in any form between two consenting adults does not currently violate any laws. However, if someone under 18 is involved, the adult partner will be prosecuted. In a notable case in 2002, a man who had anal intercourse with a teenager was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. {{Citation needed|date=February 2007}}

In Hong Kong "Homosexual Buggery" is prohibited. Before 2014, according to the [[Crimes Ordinance]] Section 118C,<ref>CRIMES ORDINANCE, Chapter 200, Section 118C, [http://www.hklii.hk/eng/hk/legis/ord/200/s118c-19970630.html.html Homosexual buggery with or by man under 21], hklii.hk</ref> both of the two men must be at least 16 to commit homosexual buggery legally or otherwise both of them can be liable to life imprisonment.  [https://www.hklii.hk/eng/hk/legis/ord/200/s118D.html Sect 118F] states that committing homosexual buggery not privately is also illegal and can be liable to imprisonment for 5 years.

"Heterosexual Buggery". A man who commits buggery with a girl under 21 can also be liable for life imprisonment ([http://www.hklii.hk/eng/hk/legis/ord/200/s118d.html Sect 118D]) while no similar laws concerning committing heterosexual buggery in private exist.

In 2005, [[Michael Hartmann (judge)|Judge Hartmann]] found these 4 laws: Sect 118C, 118F, [https://www.hklii.hk/eng/hk/legis/ord/200/s118H.html 118H], and [https://www.hklii.hk/eng/hk/legis/ord/200/s118J.html 118J] were discriminatory towards gay males and unconstitutional under the [[Hong Kong Basic Law]] and contrary to the Bill of Rights Ordinance in a judicial review filed by a Hong Kong resident.  It was believed that the age of consent had been reduced from 21 to 16 for any kind of homosexual sex acts. In 2014, the ordinance was amended according to the judgement.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.elegislation.gov.hk/egazettedownload?EGAZETTE_PDF_ID=11146 |title=Statute Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance 2014 |publisher=Elegislation.gov.hk |date=1 January 1970 |access-date=24 January 2018}}</ref>

==== Cook Islands====
{{Main|LGBT rights in the Cook Islands}}

Homosexuality was decriminalized in the Cook Islands by an act of Parliament on 1 June 2023.<ref>{{cite web |date=15 April 2023 |title=Cook Islands parliament decriminalises homosexuality |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/488019/cook-islands-parliament-decriminalises-homosexuality |access-date=15 April 2023 |publisher=[[RNZ]] |archive-date=15 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415041023/https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/488019/cook-islands-parliament-decriminalises-homosexuality |url-status=live }}</ref> Prior to that, male homosexual activity was illegal in the Cook Islands under the Crimes Act 1969. Consensual male sodomy was punishable by up to seven years' imprisonment,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.paclii.org/ck/legis/num_act/ca196982/|title=Crimes Act 1969|work=paclii.org|access-date=14 July 2009|archive-date=12 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180212224442/http://www.paclii.org/ck/legis/num_act/ca196982/|url-status=live}}</ref> while indecency between males was punishable by up to five years' imprisonment. The law was inherited from the former [[British Empire]]. Prosecutions were rare, however.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/337461/cooks-bill-puts-spotlight-on-pacific-s-anti-gay-laws|title=Cooks bill puts spotlight on Pacific's anti-gay laws|work=Radio New Zealand|date=21 August 2017|last=Hopgood|first=Sela Jane|access-date=10 May 2018|archive-date=15 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615163311/https://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/337461/cooks-bill-puts-spotlight-on-pacific-s-anti-gay-laws|url-status=live}}</ref>

==== Denmark ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Denmark}}
In 1933, Denmark decriminalized homosexuality.<ref name="DenmarkHistory">{{cite web |date=10 February 2014 |title=Where is it illegal to be gay? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-25927595 |access-date=23 February 2014 |work=BBC News}}</ref> The age of consent has been set at 15 since 1977.

==== Dominica ====

In April 2024, the High Court of [[Dominica]] ruled that sections 14 and 16 of the Sexual Offences Act, that criminalised consensual same-sex activity between adults, were unconstitutional.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://76crimes.com/2024/04/22/anti-sodomy-law-dominica/|title=Dominica court overturns anti-sodomy law|first=Colin|last=Stewart|date=22 April 2024}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dominicanewsonline.com/news/homepage/news/breaking-news-dominica-high-court-rules-punishment-of-homosexual-acts-as-unconstitutional/|title=UPDATE (with judgment): Dominica High Court rules punishment of homosexual acts as unconstitutional - Dominica News Online}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-23 |title=Dominica decriminalises same-sex relations |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-68880033 |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref>

Prior to that ruling, both male and female types of same-sex sexual activity were illegal in [[Dominica]], as was [[anal intercourse]] between persons of the opposite sex.<ref>[http://old.ilga.org/Statehomophobia/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2012.pdf ''State Sponsored Homophobia: A world survey of laws criminalising same-sex sexual acts between consenting adults'', The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, edited by Lucas Paoli Itaborahy, May 2012, p. 58] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017205059/http://old.ilga.org/Statehomophobia/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2012.pdf |date=17 October 2012 }}</ref>

==== France ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in France}}
Since the [[Penal Code of 1791]], France has not had laws punishing homosexual conduct ''per se'' between over-age consenting adults in private. However, other qualifications such as "offense to good mores" were occasionally retained in the 19th century ''(see [[Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès]])''.

In 1960, a [[:fr:Amendement Mirguet|parliamentary amendment]] by Paul Mirguet added homosexuality to a list of "social scourges", along with alcoholism and prostitution. This prompted the government to increase the penalties for public display of a sex act when the act was homosexual. [[transvestism|Transvestites]] or homosexuals caught [[Cruising for sex|cruising]] were also the target of police repression.

In 1981, the 1960 law making homosexuality an aggravating circumstance for public indecency was repealed.  Then in 1982, under president [[François Mitterrand]], the law from 1942 ([[Vichy France]]) making the age of consent for homosexual sex higher (18) than for heterosexual sex (15) was also repealed,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jopdf/common/jo_pdf.jsp?numJO=0&dateJO=19820805&numTexte=&pageDebut=02502&pageFin=|title=Fac-similé JO du 05/08/1982, page 02502 – Legifrance|access-date=10 March 2015}}</ref> despite the vocal opposition of [[Jean Foyer]] in the [[French National Assembly|National Assembly]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archives.assemblee-nationale.fr/7/cri/1981-1982-ordinaire1/153.pdf | title=Proceedings of the National assembly, 2nd sitting of 20 December 1981 | publisher=[[National Assembly of France]] | date=1981-12-20 | lang=fr}}</ref>

==== Germany ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Germany}}
[[Paragraph 175]], which punished "[[fornication]] between men", was eased to an [[age of consent]] of 21 in [[East Germany]] in 1957 and in West Germany in 1969.  This age was lowered to 18 in the East in 1968 and the West in 1973, and all legal distinctions between [[heterosexual]] and [[homosexuality|homosexual]] acts were abolished in the East in 1988, with this change being extended to all of Germany in 1994 as part of the process of [[German Reunification]].

In modern [[German language|German]], the term {{Lang|de|Sodomie}} has a meaning different from the [[English language|English]] word "[[:wiktionary:sodomy|sodomy]]": it does not refer to anal sex, but acts of [[zoophilia]]. The change occurred mostly in the middle of the 19th century, at least in the last decade of the century. Only the moral theology of the Roman Catholic church changed not until some time after World War II to the term ''homosexuality''.

==== Gibraltar ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Gibraltar}}
In [[Gibraltar]], a [[British overseas territories|British overseas territory]], male homosexual acts (but not heterosexual anal sex) have been decriminalised since 1993, when the age of consent was 18 for male homosexual acts. Then under a Supreme Court decision in April 2011, the age of consent became 16, regardless of sexual orientation and/or gender.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.chronicle.gi/headlines_details.php?id=21474 |title=Judge rules: age of consent is 16 for all |work=[[Gibraltar Chronicle]] |date=9 April 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120327061200/http://www.chronicle.gi/headlines_details.php?id=21474 |archive-date=27 March 2012 }}</ref> At the same time, under the same decision, heterosexual anal sex was also decriminalised as well.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.chronicle.gi/headlines_details.php?id=21486 |title=Sex debate women's group demands referendum in bid to raise consent age |work=[[Gibraltar Chronicle]] |date=12 April 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120327061214/http://www.chronicle.gi/headlines_details.php?id=21486 |archive-date=27 March 2012  }}</ref> In August 2011, the new gender-neutral ''Crimes Act 2011'' was approved, which sets an equal age of consent of 16 regardless of sexual orientation, and reflects the decision of the Supreme Court in statute.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.chronicle.gi/headlines_details.php?id=22526 |title=Age of consent, 16, framed in law |work=[[Gibraltar Chronicle]] |date=20 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103130416/http://www.chronicle.gi/headlines_details.php?id=22526 |archive-date=3 November 2013 }}</ref>

==== Hungary ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Hungary}}
[[Homosexuality]] in Hungary was decriminalized in 1962, [[Paragraph]] 199 of the Hungarian Penal Code from then on threatened "only" adults over 20 who engaged themselves in a consensual same-sex relationship with an underaged person between 14 and 20. Then in 1978 the age was lowered to 18. Since 2002, by the ruling of the [[Constitutional Court of Hungary]] repealed Paragraph 199 – Which provided an equal age of consent of 14, regardless of sexual orientation and/or gender. Since 1996, the ''Unregistered Cohabitation Act 1995'' was provided for any couple, regardless of gender and/or sexual orientation and from 1 July 2009 the ''Registered Partnership Act 2009'' becomes effective, and provides a registered partnership just for same-sex couples – since that opposite-sex already have marriage, this would in-turn create duplication.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ukgaynews.org.uk/marriage_timeline.htm |title=UK Gay News – Gay and Lesbian Marriage, Partnership or Unions Worldwide |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090615184256/http://www.ukgaynews.org.uk/marriage_timeline.htm |archive-date=15 June 2009 }}</ref>

==== Iceland ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Iceland}}
Homosexuality has been legal in Iceland since 1940, but equal age of consent was not approved until 1992. [[Civil union]] was legalised by [[Alþingi]] in 1996 with 44 votes pro, 1 con, 1 neutral and 17 not present. Those laws were changed to allow adoption and [[artificial insemination]] for [[lesbians]] 27 June 2006 among other things. [[Same-sex marriage in Iceland|Same-sex marriage]] was legalised in 2010.

==== India ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in India}}
On 2 July 2009, in the case of ''[[Naz Foundation v. Govt. of NCT of Delhi|Naz Foundation v National Capital Territory of Delhi]]'', the High Court of Delhi struck down much of [[Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code|S. 377 of the IPC]], which criminalized various sexual acts, as being unconstitutional. On 11 December 2013, the Supreme Court of India [[Suresh Kumar Koushal v. Naz Foundation | overturned]] the ruling in ''Naz Foundation v. National Capital Territory of Delhi'', effectively re-criminalizing homosexual activity until action was taken by parliament.<ref>{{cite news|first=J. |last=Venkatesan|title=Homosexuality illegal: SC|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/homosexuality-not-legal-sc/article5446939.ece|access-date=11 December 2013|newspaper=The Hindu|date=11 December 2013}}</ref> However, on 12 July 2018, a Constitution bench of the Supreme Court of India started hearing a review petition over its 2013 judgment. On 6 September 2018, in ''[[Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India]]'', the Supreme Court struck down the part of S. 377 de-criminalizing consensual homosexual activities. It upheld that other aspects of S. 377 criminalizing unnatural sex with minors and animals will remain in force.<ref name="auto">{{Cite news|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/sc-delivers-historic-verdict-section-377-gone-being-gay-no-more-a-crime-in-india/articleshow/65696771.cms?from=mdr|title=Section 377: SC rewrites history, homosexual behaviour no longer a crime|last=Rautray|first=Samanwaya|date=6 September 2018|work=The Economic Times|access-date=6 September 2018}}</ref>

India does not recognize same-sex unions of any type. In October 2023, in ''[[Supriyo v. Union of India]]'', the Supreme Court held that the legalization of same-sex marriage is not a matter for the courts to decide on the grounds that the right to marry is a statutory right, not a constitutional one.

====Ireland====
In the [[Republic of Ireland]], the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 1993 abolished the offence of "buggery between persons".<ref>[http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1993/en/act/pub/0020/sec0002.html Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act, 1993; §2: Abolition of offence of buggery between persons.] Irish Statute Book.</ref> For some years prior to 1993, criminal prosecution had not been made for buggery between consenting adults. The 1993 Act created an offence of "buggery with a person under the age of 17 years",<ref>[http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1993/en/act/pub/0020/sec0003.html Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act, 1993; §3: Buggery of persons under 17 years of age]. Irish Statute Book.</ref> penalised similar to [[statutory rape]], which also had 17 years as the [[age of consent]]. The [[Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2006]] replaced this offence with "defilement of a child", encompassing both "sexual intercourse" and "buggery".<ref>[http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2006/en/act/pub/0015/print.html Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2006 §§1,2,3 and Schedule.] Irish Statute Book.</ref> Buggery with an animal is still unlawful under Section 69 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. In 2012, a man was convicted of this offence for supplying a dog in 2008 to a woman who had intercourse with it and died;<ref name="ll4456858">{{cite news|url=http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/local/court-told-mother-died-after-acting-on-sexual-fantasy-1-4456858|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130217211932/http://www.limerickleader.ie/news/local/court-told-mother-died-after-acting-on-sexual-fantasy-1-4456858|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 February 2013|title=Court told mother died after acting on 'sexual fantasy'|last=Sheridan|first=Anne|date=8 November 2012|work=[[Limerick Leader]]|access-date=27 November 2012}}</ref> he received a [[suspended sentence]] and was required to sign the [[sex offender registry]], ending his career as a [[bus driver]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.limerickpost.ie/2012/12/19/bus-driver-avoids-prison-in-bestiality-case/|title=Bus driver avoids prison in bestiality case|work=[[Limerick Post]]|date=19 December 2012|access-date=14 June 2018}}</ref>

==== Israel ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Israel}}
The State of Israel inherited its sodomy ("buggery") law from the legal code of the [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate of Palestine]], but it was never enforced against homosexual acts that took place between consenting adults in private. In 1963, the Israeli Attorney-General declared that these laws would not be enforced. However, in certain criminal cases, defendants were convicted of "sodomy" (which includes [[oral sex]]), apparently by way of plea bargains; they had originally been indicted for more serious sexual offenses.

In the late 1960s, the [[Supreme Court of Israel|Israeli Supreme Court]] ruled that these laws could not be enforced against consenting adults. Though unenforced, these laws remained in the penal code until 1988, when they were formally repealed by the [[Knesset]]. The [[age of consent]] for both heterosexuals and homosexuals is 16 years of age.

==== Italy ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Italy}}
In 1786, [[Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor|Pietro Leopoldo of Tuscany]], abolishing [[death penalty]] for all crimes, became not only the first Western ruler to do so, but also the first ruler to abolish death penalty for sodomy (though this was replaced with other sentences such as terms in prison or of hard labour).

The Code Napoléon made sodomy legal between consenting adults above the legal age of consent in all Italy except in the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Austria-ruled Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, and the Papal states.

In the newborn (1860) [[Kingdom of Italy]], Sardinia extended its legal code on the whole of Northern Italy, but not in the South, which made homosexual behaviour legal in the South and illegal in the North. However, the first Italian penal code (Codice Zanardelli, 1889) decriminalised same-sex intercourse between consenting adults above the legal age of consent for all regions; the law has not changed since it was enacted.

==== Japan ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Japan}}

In the [[Meiji Period]], sex between men was punishable under the sodomy laws announced in 1872 and revised in 1873. This was changed by laws announced in 1880 ([[:ja:同性愛#同性愛に関する法と政治|同性愛に関する法と政治]]). Since that time no further laws criminalizing homosexuality have been passed.

==== Mauritius ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Mauritius}}
Consensual sodomy was decriminalized by the Supreme Court of [[Mauritius]] in a decision dated 4 October 2023, which found that the criminal code provision banning sodomy was unconstitutional. Same-sex intercourse between women was never illegal.  

Previously, Section 250(1) of the Mauritius Criminal Code of 1838 held that "Any person who is guilty of the crime of sodomy ... shall be liable to penal servitude for a term not exceeding 5 years."<ref name="ILGA 2013">[http://old.ilga.org/Statehomophobia/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2013.pdf "State-sponsored Homophobia: A world survey of laws prohibiting same sex activity between consenting adults", International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, authored by Lucas Paoli Itaborahy and Jingshu Zhu, May 2013, p. 51] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130717085454/http://old.ilga.org/Statehomophobia/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2013.pdf |date=17 July 2013 }}</ref> Under the Supreme Court's 2023 judgement, the section should "be read so as to exclude such consensual acts from [its] ambit."<ref>{{Cite web |date=4 October 2023 |title=Abdool Ridwan Firaas Ah Seek v. The State of Mauritius |url=https://www.humandignitytrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Judgment-AH-SEEK-.pdf |website=Human Dignity Trust}}</ref>

==== Namibia ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Namibia}}

The High Court of Namibia in [[Windhoek]] ruled that Namibia's common law crimes of “sodomy” and “unnatural sexual offences” were unconstitutional and invalid on 21 June 2024.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Routh |first1=Roland |title=Ruling on sodomy law reserved for May 2024 |url=https://neweralive.na/posts/ruling-on-sodomy-law-reserved-for-may-2024 |access-date=1 November 2023 |website=[[New Era (Namibia)|New Era]]|date=November 2023 }}</ref><ref name="NamibiaGuardian">{{cite web |title=Namibian court strikes down law criminalising same-sex relationships |url=https://guardian.ng/namibian-court-strikes-down-law-criminalising-same-sex-relationships/ |website=The Guardian |access-date=21 June 2024}}</ref> The court also ruled on the same day that the inclusion of references to the crime of sodomy in the ''Criminal Procedure Act, Immigration Act,'' and ''Defense Act'' were similarly unconstitutional and invalid.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.humandignitytrust.org/wp-content/uploads/resources/Judgment.pdf|title=Dausab vs. Minister of Justice}}</ref>

==== New Zealand ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in New Zealand}}

New Zealand inherited the United Kingdom's sodomy laws in 1854. The Offences Against The Person Act of 1867 changed the penalty of buggery from execution to life imprisonment for "Buggery". In 1961 in a revision of the Crimes Act, the penalty was reduced to a maximum of 7 years between consenting adult males.

Homosexual sex was legalised in New Zealand as a result of the passing of the [[Homosexual Law Reform Act|Homosexual Law Reform Act 1986]]. The age of consent was set at 16 years, the same as for heterosexual sex.

==== North Korea ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in North Korea}}
No explicit anti-gay criminal law exists, but government media depicts LGBT people negatively and some gay couples have been executed for being "against the socialist lifestyle".{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}

==== Norway ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Norway}}

Same-sex sexual activity between men has been legal in Norway since 1972.

==== Poland ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Poland}}
Poland is one of the few countries where homosexuality has never been considered a crime. Forty years after Poland [[Partitions of Poland|lost its independence]], in 1795, the sodomy laws of [[Imperial Russia|Russia]], [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]], and [[Austrian Empire|Austria]] came into force in the occupied Polish lands. Poland retained these laws after independence in 1918, but they were never enforced, and were officially abandoned in 1932.

==== Russia ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Russia}}
In the past, in Russia sexual activity between males was criminalized by state law on 4 March 1934. Sexual activity between females was not mentioned in the law. On 27 May 1993, homosexual acts between consenting males were decriminalized.

====Saint Kitts and Nevis====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Saint Kitts and Nevis}}
Following a ruling of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court on August 29, 2022, consensual same-sex intercourse between adults in private is no longer illegal in Saint Kitts and Nevis.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Clarke |first1=Sherry Lyn |title=Eastern Caribbean Court Strikes Down Anti-Buggery Law |url=https://www.nationnews.com/2022/08/29/eastern-caribbean-court-strikes-anti-buggery-law/ |access-date=30 August 2022 |work=[[The Daily Nation (Barbados)|Nation News]] |date=29 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220830131358/https://www.nationnews.com/2022/08/29/eastern-caribbean-court-strikes-anti-buggery-law/ |archive-date=30 August 2022 |location=Fontabelle, St. Michael, Barbados |url-status=live}}</ref>

Previously, Sections 56 and 57 of the "Offences Against the Person Act" criminalized same-sex sexual activity.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/49b92b2614.html|title=Refworld &#124; Saint Kitts and Nevis: The situation of homosexuals; state protection and availability of support groups|first=United Nations High Commissioner for|last=Refugees|website=Refworld}}</ref> The Court ruled that the sections violated the Saint Kitts and Nevis constitutional provisions guaranteeing a right to privacy and freedom of expression. The ruling had immediate effect.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-08-29 |title=Court rules in favour of gay man |url=https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20220829/court-rules-favour-gay-man |access-date=2022-08-30 |website=jamaica-gleaner.com |language=en}}</ref>

In 2011, the government of St. Kitts and Nevis said it had no mandate from the people to abolish the criminalization of homosexuality among consenting adults. However, despite the existence of the law on the books, there had been no known prosecution of same-sex sexual activity according to the government.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sflcn.com/story.php?id=9915|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716044619/http://sflcn.com/story.php?id=9915|url-status=dead|title=St. Kitts and Nevis has no mandate to repeal homosexuality laws|archivedate=July 16, 2011}}</ref>

==== Serbia ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Serbia}}
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia restricted the offense in 1959 to only apply to homosexual anal intercourse, with the maximum sentence reduced from 2 to 1 year imprisonment. In 1994, male homosexual sexual intercourse was officially decriminalised in the [[Republic of Serbia (1992–2006)|Republic of Serbia]], a part of the [[Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]]. The [[age of consent]] was set at 18 years for anal intercourse between males and 14 for other sexual practices. An equal age of consent of 14 was later introduced on 1 January 2006 with the adoption of a new Criminal Code, regardless of sexual orientation or gender.

==== Singapore ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Singapore}}
[[Sections 377 and 377A of the Penal Code (Singapore)|Section 377A]] of the [[Singapore Penal Code]], introduced during British colonial rule, criminalised "outrage of decency" and additionally punish commission, solicitation, or attempted male same-sex "gross indecency", with "imprisonment of up to two years".<ref>{{cite news| url= https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-29828979 |title= Activists condemn Singapore court gay ruling| date= 30 October 2014|website= BBC.com |access-date= 30 September 2021}}</ref>

Section 377 was added by the British in 1858 for its colonies. The law was inherited into Singapore in 1871, with 377A introduced into the Penal Code in 1938. In October 2007, during a Penal Code review, Singapore repealed Section 377 of the Penal Code, but 377A remained on the books as an [[unenforced law]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.generationq.net/articles/Singapore-gay-sex-ban-to-remain-straight-ban-abolished-00001.html| title= Singapore gay sex ban to remain, straight ban abolished| first= Chris |last= Pycroft |date= 25 October 2007 | website= GenerationQ.net |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071026032648/http://www.generationq.net/articles/Singapore-gay-sex-ban-to-remain-straight-ban-abolished-00001.html |archive-date=26 October 2007| access-date= 30 September 2021}}</ref> On 29 November 2022, the [[Parliament of Singapore]] voted to repeal Section 377A in its entirety.<ref>{{Cite web |last=cue |date=2022-11-29 |title=Parliament repeals Section 377A, endorses amendments protecting definition of marriage {{!}} The Straits Times |url=https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/politics/parliament-repeals-section-377a-endorses-amendments-protecting-marriage-definition |access-date=2022-11-30 |website=www.straitstimes.com |language=en}}</ref> It was officially repealed on 3 January 2023 and struck off the books.<ref>{{cite web |title=Penal Code (Amendment) Act 2022 |url=https://sso.agc.gov.sg//Acts-Supp/39-2022/Published/20230103?DocDate=20230103 |website=Singapore Statutes Online |access-date=8 January 2023 |date=3 January 2023}}</ref>

==== South Africa ====
{{main|LGBT rights in South Africa}}
The common-law crimes of sodomy and "commission of an [[unnatural act|unnatural sexual act]]" in South Africa's [[Roman-Dutch law]] were declared to be unconstitutional (and therefore invalid) by the [[Witwatersrand Local Division]] of the [[High Court of South Africa|High Court]] on 8 May 1998 in the case of ''[[National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality v Minister of Justice]]'',<ref>{{cite news |title=South African Court Ends Sodomy Laws |date=8 May 1998 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/09/world/south-african-court-ends-sodomy-laws.html |access-date=28 June 2011}}</ref> and this judgment was confirmed by the [[Constitutional Court of South Africa|Constitutional Court]] on 9 October of the same year.<ref>{{cite news |first=Donald G. |last=McNeil |title=South Africa Strikes Down Laws on Gay Sex |date=9 October 1998 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/10/world/south-africa-strikes-down-laws-on-gay-sex.html |access-date=28 June 2011}}</ref> The ruling applied retroactively to acts committed since the adoption of the [[Interim Constitution of South Africa|Interim Constitution]] on 27 April 1994.<ref>{{cite news |first=Pat |last=Reber |title=South Africa Court Upholds Gay Rights |date=9 October 1998 |agency=Associated Press |url=http://www.glapn.org/sodomylaws/world/south_africa/sanews003.htm |access-date=28 June 2011}}</ref>

Despite the abolition of sodomy as a crime, the [[Sexual Offences Act, 1957]] set the [[age of consent]] for same-sex activities at 19, whereas for opposite-sex activities it was 16. This was rectified by the [[Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, 2007]], which comprehensively reformed the law on sex offences to make it gender- and orientation-neutral, and set 16 as the uniform age of consent.<ref>{{cite news |first=Niren |last=Tolsi |date=11 January 2008 |title=Is it the kiss of death? |newspaper=Mail & Guardian |url=http://mg.co.za/article/2008-01-11-is-it-the-kiss-of-death |access-date=28 June 2011}}</ref> In 2008, even though the new law had come into effect, the former inequality was retrospectively declared to be unconstitutional in the case of ''[[Geldenhuys v National Director of Public Prosecutions]]''.<ref>{{cite news |title=Consent judgment welcomed |newspaper=News24.com |publisher= |agency=Sapa |date=26 November 2008 |url= http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Consent-judgment-welcomed-20081126 |access-date=27 November 2011}}</ref>

==== South Korea ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in South Korea}}
Sexual relationships between members of the same sex are legal under civilian law, but are regarded as sexual harassment in the Military Penal Code.

==== Sweden ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Sweden}}
Sweden legalized homosexuality in 1944. The age of consent is 15, regardless of whether the sexual act is heterosexual or homosexual, since equalization in 1978. The Swedish Criminal Code (SFS 1962:700), chapter six ('About Sexual Crimes'), shows gender-neutral terms and does not distinguish between sexual orientation.

[[Bestiality]] was legalized at the same time as homosexuality, i.e. in 1944. It was again criminalized in 2014.<ref>[https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/vast/nu-blir-det-olagligt-att-ha-sex-med-djur "Nu blir det olagligt att ha sex med djur." ''Sveriges Radio'']. Retrieved 27 December 2020.</ref> The relevant legal provision is today found in Chapter 2, 10 § of the Swedish Animal Welfare Act of 2018: "It is forbidden to perform sexual acts with animals. The prohibition does not cover acts performed for veterinary reasons or in connection with breeding or for similar legitimate reasons." Violations of this provision is punishable with a fine or with imprisonment for a maximum of two years (Chapter 10, 2 § of the above Act).<ref>[https://www.riksdagen.se/sv/dokument-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/djurskyddslag-20181192_sfs-2018-1192  "Djurskyddslag (2018:1192)." ''Sveriges Riksdag.''] Retrieved 27 December 2020.</ref>

==== Taiwan ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Taiwan}}

Explicit prohibitions of "consenting ''ji jian'' ({{lang|zh-hant|雞姦}}; sodomy)" were abolished around 1912, when the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] was established.<ref>{{cite journal| url=http://www.sex-study.org/news.php?isweb=2&sort=76&id=1128&classid | date=2007 | journal=中国"性"研究 | trans-journal=China Sexuality Research | issue=26 | lang=zh-hans | last1=郭 | first1=晓飞 | title=中国有过同性恋的非罪化吗？| trans-title=Did (Mainland) China decriminalized homosexuality in the past? | publisher=万有出版社 Universal Press (Taiwan) | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304185438/http://www.sex-study.org/news.php?isweb=2&sort=76&id=1128&classid | archive-date=March 4, 2016 | url-status=usurped | quote=1903年清政府成立了修订法律馆...修订后的《大清新刑律》不再惩罚成年男性间"和同鸡奸"...这部法律虽然并未正式施行，但是1912年经稍作修改后，成了包括后来北洋政府也在用的《中华民国暂行新刑律》| trans-quote=In 1903, Qing government established the law revision board...the revised 《New Great Qing Criminal Code》 no longer punish adult gay men "consenting sodomy"....although this law was not implemented (Qing monarchy was replaced with Republic of China), it was slightly modified in 1912 to become 《Republic of China Provisional Criminal Code》 adopted by Beiyang government}}</ref> The criminal code contained no provisions prohibiting consensual same-sex sexual activity between adults.<ref name="AcademiaSinica"/> Despite the decriminalization, LGBT people were often harassed and detained under general public order laws. These laws were repealed during the [[Taiwan#Transition to democracy|transition to democracy]] in 1991.<ref name="AcademiaSinica">{{cite journal |last1=Kuan |first1=Hsiao-Wei |date=October 2019 |url=https://publication.iias.sinica.edu.tw/60519091.pdf |journal=中研院法學期刊 | trans-journal=Academia Sinica Law Journal | title=臺灣民主化後同志人權保障之變遷 | trans-title=Taiwan post-democratization changes on LGBT human rights protection |volume=2019 |issue=Special 1 |pages=569,579 |publisher=[[Academia Sinica]] |lang=zh-hant |quote=...中華民國政府統治後，臺灣所施行的1935年刑法，也未處罰同性性行為...相反的，同性間的性，其隱藏不可說...雖非透過刑罰，但仍在各處存在許多恣意的管制對於同性性行為加以貶低和醜化，例如以違警罰法（及其後的社會秩序維護法）的「行跡不檢」...原違警罰法終於在1991年6月29日廢止...在戒嚴時期，臨檢就是警察騷擾同性戀的手段，過去即慣常以「違警罰法」的各項「奇裝異服」「妨害風俗」的名義盤查同志... |trans-quote=...after Republic of China started governing (Taiwan), the criminal code of 1935 which was implemented in Taiwan had no punishment for same-sex activity...on the contrary, same-sex activities were hidden and slienced...although they were not criminally punished (for same-sex activity), they were still been humiliated and vilified through various arbitrary rules, such as law on obstruction against police (and later offense on "disorderly behavior" through law on breach of social order)...obstruction against police law was repealed in June 29, 1991...during the martial law period, police conduct raids as a way to harass LGBTs...in the past, LGBTs were frequently interrogated by the police on the suspicion of obstructing against police for various reasons including "wearing strange clothes" or "offense against social customs"... |access-date=2023-12-04}}</ref>

In Taiwan, the Criminal Code of the Republic of China officially focusing on [[sexual assaults]].<ref>{{cite act | title=Criminal Code Chapter 16 Sexual Offenses | type=Act | language=en | chapter=Chapter 16 | date=1935|url=https://law.moj.gov.tw/ENG/LawClass/LawParaDeatil.aspx?pcode=C0000001&bp=32 | access-date=June 29, 2024 | archive-date=June 30, 2024 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20240630054004/https://law.moj.gov.tw/ENG/LawClass/LawParaDeatil.aspx?pcode=C0000001&bp=32 | url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite act | title=Criminal Code Chapter 16-1 Offense against Morality | type=Act | language=en | chapter=Chapter 16-1 | date=1935|url=https://law.moj.gov.tw/ENG/LawClass/LawParaDeatil.aspx?pcode=C0000001&bp=33 | access-date=June 29, 2024 | archive-date=June 30, 2024 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20240630054304/https://law.moj.gov.tw/ENG/LawClass/LawParaDeatil.aspx?pcode=C0000001&bp=33 | url-status=live}}</ref> [http://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawSingle.aspx?PCode=C0000001&FLNO=10 Article 10] defines anal intercourse to be a form of sexual intercourse, along with vaginal and oral intercourse. [http://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawSingle.aspx?PCode=C0000001&FLNO=227 Article 277] set the age of consent at 16. Child and Youth Sexual Transaction Prevention Act <!-- Official name of this law could be found at http://english.www.gov.tw/Yearbook/index.jsp?categid=184&recordid=52665-->[http://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawSingle.aspx?PCode=D0050023&FLNO=22 Article 22] make it a criminal offense to engage in sexual contact with minors.

==== Thailand ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Thailand}}
Anti-sodomy legislation was repealed in Thailand in 1956.<ref name="Thailand" />

==== Turkey ====
{{See also|Timeline of LGBT history in Turkey}}
In Turkey, homosexual acts had already been decriminalized by its predecessor state, the [[Ottoman Empire]] in 1858.<ref name="History"/>

==== United Kingdom ====
{{See also|LGBT rights in the United Kingdom}}
===== Decriminalisation and abolition =====
{{main|LGBT rights in the United Kingdom#Same-sex sexual activity}}
In England, the first relaxation of the law came from the [[Wolfenden Report]], published in 1957. The key proposal of the report was that "homosexual behaviour between consenting adults in private should no longer be a criminal offence".<ref>{{cite web|title=The Cabinet Papers|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/themes/before-after-wolfenden-report.htm|website=The National Archives|access-date=16 April 2016}}</ref> However, the law was not changed until 1967, when the [[Sexual Offences Act 1967]] decriminalized consensual "homosexual acts" as long as only two men were involved, both were over 21 and the acts happened in private. The Act concerned acts between men only, and anal sex between men and women remained an offence until 1994.

In the 1980s and 1990s, [[LGBT rights in the United Kingdom|gay rights]] organizations made attempts to equalize the [[age of consent]] for heterosexual and homosexual activity, which had previously been 21 for homosexual activity but only 16 for heterosexual acts. Heterosexual sodomy, however, ironically remained illegal until the 1994 [[Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994|Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill]], although it was mainly applied in cases of anal rape. Efforts were also made to modify the "no other person present" clause so that it dealt only with minors. In 1994, Conservative MP [[Edwina Currie]] introduced as part of the 1994 bill an amendment which would have lowered the age of consent to 16. The amendment failed, but a compromise amendment which lowered the age of consent to 18 was accepted.<ref>{{cite web |title=Amendment Of Law Relating To Sexual Acts Between Men |url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1994-02-21/debates/2cff3a37-1689-4247-bfa8-3f2f3d5da45e/AmendmentOfLawRelatingTo |website=[[Hansard]] |publisher=Parliament of the United Kingdom |access-date=7 November 2019 |date=21 February 1994}}</ref> 1 July 1997 decision in the case ''[[Sutherland v. United Kingdom]]'' resulted in the [[Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000]] which further reduced it to 16, and the "no other person present" clause was modified to "no minor persons present".

It was not until 2000, with the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2000, that the age of consent for anal sex was reduced to 16 for men and women. In 2003, the [[Sexual Offences Act 2003|Sexual Offences Act]] significantly reformed English law in relation to sexual offences, introducing a new range of offences relating to underage and non-consensual sexual activity that were concerned with the act that occurred, rather than the sex or sexual orientation of those committing it.<ref name="johnson">{{cite book|last1=Johnson|first1=Paul|title=Buggery and Parliament, 1533–2017|ssrn=3155522}}</ref> Buggery in as much as it related to sexual intercourse with animals ([[bestiality]]) remained untouched until the Sexual Offences Act 2003, when it was replaced with a new offence of "intercourse with an animal".<ref name="johnson"/><ref>{{cite web|title=Section 69, Sexual Offences Act 2003|url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/section/69|website=[[Legislation.gov.uk]]|access-date=27 May 2018}}</ref>

Today, the universal age of consent is 16 in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Sexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 2008<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2008/510/contents/made|title=Sexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 2008 (Commencement) Order 2008|access-date=10 March 2015}}</ref> brought Northern Ireland into line with the rest of the United Kingdom on 2 February 2009 (prior to that, the age of consent for both heterosexual and homosexual intercourse was 17). The three British [[Crown dependencies]] also have an equal age of consent at 16: since 2006, in the [[Isle of Man]]; since 2007, in [[Jersey]]; and since 2010 in [[Guernsey]].

[[Sodomy]] is usually interpreted as referring to anal intercourse between two males or a male and a female. In England and Wales sodomy was made a [[felony]] by Henry VIII's [[Buggery Act 1533]], which was part of the attack on the monasteries,{{cn|date=November 2023}} though had been a crime punished by the clergy until 1534. The [[Buggery Act 1533]] also criminalised sex with animals. Section 61 of the [[Offences against the Person Act 1861]], entitled "Sodomy and Bestiality", defined punishments for "the abominable Crime of Buggery, committed either with Mankind or with any Animal". The punishment for those convicted was the death penalty until 1861 in England and Wales, and 1887 in Scotland. [[James Pratt and John Smith]] were the last two to be executed for sodomy in England in 1835.<ref>Cocks, Nameless Offences</ref> However, all homoerotic acts could be prosecuted under the 1533 law as they were all treated by the courts as "attempts" to commit the felony (sodomy) whether there had been an actual attempt to commit anal intercourse or not. This interpretation was in place by at least the 1690s.<ref>Cocks, Visions of Sodom</ref> Thereafter, it was possible to prosecute all homoerotic acts, invitations, or suggestions as "attempts" to commit the felony or conspiracies to arrange it. Between 1806, when reliable figures begin, and 1900, there were more than 8,000 cases of what were called "unnatural offences," including 404 capital sentences and 56 executions (all before 1835).<ref>H G Cocks, Visions of Sodom; Nameless Offences</ref> Some confusion over the state of the law and what it covered has resulted from the intervention of Henry Labouchere, who, in 1885 introduced a clause to the Criminal Law Amendment Act that outlawed "gross indecency" between men "in public and private." Many historians have assumed as a result that before that date homoerotic acts were not covered by the law, or were only prosecuted if committed in public.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}} This is not the case. Labouchere's Amendment added nothing to the law except another way of describing what was already illegal.<ref>Cocks, Nameless Offences; Visions of Sodom; {{cite web|url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/englaw.html|title=The Law in England, 1290–1885|access-date=6 August 2006}}</ref> Following the [[Wolfenden report]], sexual acts between two adult males, with no other people present, were made legal in [[England and Wales]] in 1967, in Scotland in 1980, [[Northern Ireland]] in 1982, [[Crown Dependency|UK Crown Dependencies]] [[Guernsey]] in 1983, [[Jersey]] in 1990 and [[Isle of Man]] in 1992.

The definition of sodomy was not specified in these or any statute, but rather established by judicial [[precedent]].<ref>{{cite book|editor=[[Quintin Hogg, Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone]] |title=Halsbury's Laws of England|edition=4th|volume=11 |issue=1|page= 505|title-link=Halsbury's Laws of England}}</ref> Over the years the courts have defined buggery as including either:
# [[anal sex|Anal intercourse]] or [[oral sex|oral intercourse]] by a man with a man or woman<ref>''R v Wiseman'' (1718) Fortes Rep 91.</ref> or
# [[Sexual intercourse|Vaginal intercourse]] by either [[Zoophilia|a man or a woman with an animal]],<ref>''R v Bourne'' (1952) 36 [[Criminal Appeal Reports|Cr App R]] 135; [[Edward Coke|Sir Edward Coke]] also reports (the almost certainly fictional) case of "... a great lady had committed buggery with a baboon and conceived by it..." at 3 Inst 59.</ref>
but not any other form of "unnatural intercourse",<ref name=RvJacobs>{{cite book|title=Crown cases reserved for consideration: and decided by the Twelve judges of England, from the year 1799 to the year 1824|pages=331–332|year=1825|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bW0DAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA331|last=Russell|first=Sir William Oldnall}}</ref> the implication being that anal sex with an animal would not constitute buggery. Such a case has not, to date, come before the courts of a common law jurisdiction in any reported decision. In the 1817 case of ''Rex v. Jacobs'', the Crown Court ruled that oral intercourse with a child aged 7 did not constitute sodomy,<ref name=RvJacobs /> but it could still be prosecuted as an "attempt" to commit the felony.

At common law consent was not a defence<ref>Because consent was not required, heavier penalties require proof of lack of consent – see ''R v Sandhu'' [1997] [[Criminal Law Review|Crim LR]] 288; ''R v Davies'' [1998] 1 [[Criminal Appeal Reports (Sentencing)|Cr App R (S)]] 252.</ref> nor was the fact that the parties were [[marriage|married]].<ref>''R v Jellyman'' (1838) 8 C & P 604.</ref> In the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|UK]], the punishment for buggery was reduced from [[hanging]] to [[life imprisonment]] by the [[Offences against the Person Act 1861]]. As with the crime of [[rape]], buggery required that penetration must have occurred, but [[ejaculation]] was not necessary.<ref>''R v Reekspear'' (1832) 1 Mood CC 342; ''R v Cozins'' (1834) 6 C & P 351; the [[Offences against the Person Act 1861]], §63.</ref>

==== United States ====
{{Main|Sodomy laws in the United States}}
{{See also|LGBT rights in the United States}}
[[File:Map of US sodomy laws.svg|thumb|300px|[[Sodomy laws in the United States|US sodomy laws]] by the year when they were repealed or struck down.  In the late 1950s, drafts of the [[Model Penal Code]] recommended decriminalizing sodomy and the first state to adopt decriminalization was [[Illinois]] (light yellow) in 1961. Sodomy laws remaining as of 2003 were struck down by the [[United States Supreme Court|US Supreme Court]] in ''[[Lawrence v. Texas]]''.
{{legend|#fc0|Laws repealed or struck down from 1970 to 1979}}
{{legend|DarkOrange|Laws repealed or struck down from 1980 to 1989}}
{{legend|OrangeRed|Laws repealed or struck down from 1990 to 1999}}
{{legend|#e00000|Laws repealed or struck down from 2000 to 2002}}
{{legend|DarkRed|Laws struck down by the Supreme Court of the United States in 2003}}]]
[[Sodomy laws in the United States]] were largely a matter of [[U.S. state|state]] rather than federal jurisdiction, except for laws governing the [[US Armed Forces]]. In the 1950s, all states had some form of law criminalizing sodomy. In the early 1960s, the penalties for sodomy in the various states varied from imprisonment for two to ten years and/or a fine of US$2,000.<ref>{{Cite news | first=Don | last=Gilleland | title=50 years of change | url=http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20130103/COLUMNISTS0205/301030003/Guest-column-50-years-change| newspaper=Florida Today | location=Melbourne, Florida | pages= 9A | date=3 January 2013 }}</ref>  [[Illinois]] became the first American jurisdiction to repeal its law against consensual sodomy in 1961; in 1962, the [[Model Penal Code]] recommended all states do so.<ref name=canaday>{{cite web | last = Canaday | first = Margot | title = We Colonials: Sodomy Laws in America | publisher = [[The Nation]] | date = 3 September 2008 | url = http://www.thenation.com/article/we-colonials-sodomy-laws-america | access-date = 7 February 2014 | archive-date = 26 January 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140126111019/http://www.thenation.com/article/we-colonials-sodomy-laws-america | url-status = dead }}</ref>

In the 1986 ''[[Bowers v. Hardwick]]'' decision upholding [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]'s sodomy law, the United States Supreme Court ruled that nothing in the United States Constitution bars a state from prohibiting sodomy.

By 2002, 36 states had repealed all sodomy laws or had them overturned by court rulings. In 2003, only 10 states had laws prohibiting all sodomy, with penalties ranging from 1 to 15 years imprisonment. Additionally, four other states had laws that specifically prohibited same-sex sodomy. On June 26, 2003, the [[Supreme Court of the United States|US Supreme Court]] in a 6–3 decision in ''[[Lawrence v. Texas]]'' struck down the [[Texas]] same-sex sodomy law, ruling that this private sexual conduct is protected by the liberty rights implicit in the [[Due process|due process clause]] of the [[United States Constitution]], with [[Sandra Day O'Connor]]'s concurring opinion arguing that they violated equal protection. This decision invalidated all [[U.S. state|state]] sodomy laws insofar as they applied to noncommercial conduct in private between consenting civilians.

The [[United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces|Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces]] has ruled that the ''Lawrence v. Texas'' decision applies to Article 125 of the [[Uniform Code of Military Justice]], which is a ban on sodomy in the US Armed Forces. In both ''United States v. Stirewalt'' and ''[[United States v. Marcum]]'', the court ruled that the "conduct falls within the liberty interest identified by the Supreme Court",<ref>{{cite book| publisher= US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces| url= http://www.armfor.uscourts.gov/opinions/2004Term/03-0433.htm |title= U.S. v. Stirewalt| date= 29 September 2004| access-date= 16 August 2010| via= armfor.uscourts.gov}}</ref> but went on to say that despite the application of ''Lawrence'' to the military, Article 125 can still be upheld in cases where there are "factors unique to the military environment" that would place the conduct "outside any protected liberty interest recognized in ''Lawrence''."<ref name=marcum>{{cite book| publisher= US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces| url= http://www.armfor.uscourts.gov/opinions/2004Term/02-0944.htm| title= U.S. v. Marcum| date= 23 August 2004| via= armfor.uscourts.gov| access-date= 16 August 2010}}</ref> Examples of such factors could be fraternization, public sexual behavior, or any other factors that would adversely affect good order and discipline.<ref name=marcum /> Convictions for consensual sodomy have been overturned in military courts under the ''Lawrence'' precedent in both ''United States v. Meno''.<ref>{{cite book | url= http://www.sldn.org/binary-data/SLDN_ARTICLES/pdf_file/2309.pdf | title= United States v. Meno | publisher= United States Court of Criminal Appeals | access-date= 21 January 2008 | archive-date= 27 February 2008 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080227001854/http://www.sldn.org/binary-data/SLDN_ARTICLES/pdf_file/2309.pdf | url-status= dead }}</ref> and ''United States v. Bullock''.<ref>{{cite book| via= glapn.org| url= http://www.glapn.org/sodomylaws/usa/military/milnews052.htm |title= US v. Bullock | year= 2004| access-date= 16 August 2010}}</ref>

As of 2024, 12 states still had laws against consensual sodomy; in 2013, police in [[East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana]], arrested gay men for "attempted crimes against nature" despite the law having been ruled unconstitutional and unenforceable.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/21/12-states-ban-sodomy-a-decade-after-court-ruling/7981025/|title=12 states still ban sodomy a decade after court ruling| work=USA Today|access-date=7 June 2017|language=en}}</ref>

===Countries where same-sex sexual activity is illegal===

====Ethiopia====
In [[History of Ethiopia|Ethiopian history]], the recognition of same-sex activity is generally obscure, which means little evidence left for scholarly research. However, ''The Life and Struggles of Our Mother Wälättä P̣eṭros'' (1672) is the first reference of homosexuality between nuns in [[Ethiopian literature]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=UNPO: Ethiopia: Sexual Minorities Under Threat|url=https://unpo.org/article/20902|access-date=2021-05-09|website=unpo.org|date=2 November 2009 |archive-date=9 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509213851/https://unpo.org/article/20902|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Belcher|first=Wendy Laura|date=2016|title=Same-Sex Intimacies in the Early African Text Gädlä Wälättä P̣eṭros (1672): Queer Reading an Ethiopian Woman Saint|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/reseafrilite.47.2.03|journal=Research in African Literatures|volume=47|issue=2|pages=20–45|doi=10.2979/reseafrilite.47.2.03|jstor=10.2979/reseafrilite.47.2.03 |s2cid=148427759 |issn=0034-5210}}</ref> In the country's Constitution's Article 629, same-sex activity is criminalized with up to 15 years to life imprisonment.<ref name="ILGA 2012">{{cite web  |url=http://old.ilga.org/Statehomophobia/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2012.pdf |title=State Sponsored Homophobia: A world survey of laws criminalising same-sex sexual acts between consenting adults |publisher=The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association |first=Lucas Paoli |last=Itaborahy |date=May 2012 |access-date=9 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017205059/http://old.ilga.org/Statehomophobia/ILGA_State_Sponsored_Homophobia_2012.pdf |archive-date=17 October 2012}}</ref>

According to the Pew Research Center in 2007, 97% of Ethiopians said that homosexuality is a way of life that society should not accept, marking the highest level of rejection after Mali. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church  plays a significant role in maintaining society's opinion against homosexuality, and some members form anti-gay movements. One of them is "Zim Anlem" founded by Dereje Negash, who is strongly affiliated with the Church.

Among the [[Maale people]] of southern Ethiopia, historian Donald Donham documented "a small minority [of men] crossed over to feminine roles. Called "ashtime", these (biological) males dressed like women, performed female tasks, cared for their own houses, and apparently had sexual relations with men". They were also protected by the king.

====Kenya====
Swedish [[anthropologist]] [[Felix Bryk]] reported active (i.e., insertive), and also mentioned "homo-erotic bachelors" among the pastoralist [[Nandi people|Nandi]] and [[Maragoli]] (Wanga). The Nandi as well as the [[Maasai people|Maasai]] would sometimes cross-dress as women during initiation ceremonies.

==== Jamaica ====
{{Main|LGBTQ rights in Jamaica}}

In Jamaica, homosexuality is illegal and same-sex marriage is constitutionally banished. the punishment for being gay is about up to 10 years of imprisonment with [[Penal labour|hard labour]].

==== Guyana ====
{{Main|LGBTQ rights in Guyana}}

Guyana has always criminalized homosexuality and same-sex marriage. The punishment for being gay is about up to life imprisonment.

==== Iran ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Iran}}
Homosexual sex is illegal in Iran and is punishable by [[Capital punishment in Iran|execution]], imprisonment, lashings, and fines.<ref name="Tuysuz">{{Cite web|last=Tuysuz|first=Gul|date=15 May 2021|title=A card exempted a gay man from serving in Iran's military. It may have cost him his life|url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/15/middleeast/alireza-fazeli-monfared-iran-death-intl/index.html|access-date=2021-05-15|website=CNN}}</ref>

==== Iraq ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Iraq}}
In 2024, there were plans to make homosexual relations in Iraq punishable by up to death, but the law was revised before being quietly passed later that year to lower the punishment to 15 years in jail<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/27/middleeast/iraq-lgbtq-crackdown-intl-latam/index.html|title=Same-sex couples face up to 15 years in prison in Iraq's LGBTQ crackdown|first=Nechirvan Mando, Eyad|last=Kourdi|date=27 April 2024|website=CNN}}</ref> with fines and deportation.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68914551|title=Iraq criminalises same-sex relationships in new law|date=April 28, 2024|via=www.bbc.com}}</ref>

==== Macau ====
{{main|LGBT rights in Macau}}
In [[Macau]], according to the Código Penal de Macau (''Penal Code of Macau'') [https://web.archive.org/web/20080502021527/http://www.imprensa.macau.gov.mo/bo/I/95/46/codpenpt/codpen0101.asp Article 166 & 168], committing anal coitus with someone under the age of 17 is a crime and shall be punished by imprisonment of up to 10 years (committing with whoever under 14) and 4 years (committing with whoever between 14 and 16) respectively.
==== Malawi ====
Demone talks about how Malawi culture does not value homosexuality as something acceptable in their culture. British Colonial rule included laws against homosexuality, which influenced later government policies.  Although Malawi gained its independence from Britain in 1964, Malawi officials kept their anti-homosexuality laws enforced. <ref name=:0>{{Cite journal |last=Demone |first=Bradley |date=October 2016 |title=LGBT Rights in Malawi: One Step Back, Two Steps Forward? The Case of R v Steven Monjeza Soko and Tiwonge Chimbalanga Kachepa |journal=Journal of African Law |language=en |volume=60 |issue=3 |pages=365–387 |doi=10.1017/S0021855316000127 |issn=0021-8553|doi-access=free }}</ref>

In 2010, there was a case in Malawi about a man named Steven Monjeza Soko and a transgender woman, named Tiwonge Chimbalanga Kachepa, who had an engagement ceremony, were caught by the Malawi Police and charged. The court denied bail and sentenced both Soko and Kachepa to prison. The court did not have evidence of sexual activity and based the sentence on the grounds that Soko and Kachepa had the ceremony.<ref name=":0" /> 

In Malawi prisons, there is documented homosexual behavior.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Currier |first=Ashley |date=February 2021 |title=Prison same-sex sexualities in the context of politicized homophobia in Malawi |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1363460720914602 |journal=Sexualities |language=en |volume=24 |issue=1–2 |pages=29–45 |doi=10.1177/1363460720914602 |issn=1363-4607}}</ref>  During 1980s and early 1990s, President [[Hasting Kamuzu Banda]] ignored the massive rise in of HIV/AIDS. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Malawians became increasingly educated on HIV/AIDS, but they associated it with homosexual behavior.

==== Malaysia ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Malaysia}}
Sodomy is illegal in Malaysia. The sodomy laws are sometimes enforced using Section 377 of the [[Penal Code (Malaysia)|Penal Code]] which prohibits [[carnal intercourse]] against the order of nature:

{{blockquote|Any person who has sexual connection with another person by the introduction of the penis into the anus or mouth of the other person is said to commit carnal intercourse against the order of nature.}}

The age of consent in Malaysia is 16. Punishment for voluntarily committing carnal intercourse against the order of nature shall be up to twenty years [[imprisonment]] and [[flagellation|whipping]], while punishment for committing the same offence but without consent is punished by no less than five years imprisonment and whipping.<ref>{{Cite news
  | last = Tatchell
  | first = Peter
  | author-link = Peter Tatchell
  | title = A Commonwealth of homophobes
  | newspaper = Guardian
  | date = 26 November 2009
  | url = https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/nov/26/commonwealth-homophobes
  | access-date = 27 November 2009
  }}</ref>

There was a notable case involving [[Anwar Ibrahim]], former [[Leader of the Opposition (Malaysia)|Leader of the Opposition]] and [[Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia|deputy prime minister]] who was convicted of sodomy crime under Section 377B of the Penal Code. However, it is debatable whether or not the sodomy law can be enforced consistently.

==== Solomon Islands ====
{{Main|LGBTQ rights in Solomon Islands}}

Homosexual activity is illegal in the Solomon Islands and is punishable by law. The punishment for engaging in homosexual conduct is about up to 14 years imprisonment.

====Uganda====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Uganda}}

The [[Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023]] prescribes up to twenty years in prison for "promotion of homosexuality", life imprisonment for "homosexual acts", and the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nyanzi |first1=Stella |last2=Karamagi |first2=Andrew |title=The social-political dynamics of the anti-homosexuality legislation in Uganda |journal=Agenda: Empowering Women for Gender Equity |date=2015 |volume=29 |issue=1 [103] |pages=24–38 |doi=10.1080/10130950.2015.1024917 |jstor=43825974 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43825974 |id=Special issue: 'Non-normative' sexual and gender diversities in Africa |issn=1013-0950}}</ref> The latter offence includes "serial offenders", same-sex rape, sex in a position of authority or procured by intimidation, sex with persons older than seventy-five, sex with the disabled and mentally ill, and homosexual acts committed by a person with a previous conviction of homosexuality. Further, under its provisions, the promotion (including normalisation) of homosexuality is punishable by imprisonment for up to 20 years and fines.<ref>https://www.parliament.go.ug/sites/default/files/The%20Anti-Homosexuality%20Act%2C%202023.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=August 2024}}</ref> This Act came into force in 2023,{{efn-ua|name="id bill"}}<ref name="Okiror">{{Cite news |last=Okiror |first=Samuel |date=2023-05-02 |title=Uganda's parliament passes mostly unchanged anti-LGBTQ bill |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/02/uganda-parliament-passes-anti-lgbtq-bill |access-date=2023-05-02 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> making Uganda the only [[Christianity by country|Christian-majority]] country to punish some types of consensual same-sex acts with the death penalty.<ref name="times Mar 2023">{{cite news | url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/uganda-anti-homosexuality-bill-death-penalty-nsbm3m7k0 | title=Uganda anti-homosexuality bill sets death penalty as punishment| newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=21 March 2023}}</ref> [[Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2014|A similar law]] had been passed in 2013, but was later struck down in 2014 as unconstitutional by the [[Constitutional Court of Uganda]] on legal technicalities.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2014-08-01 |title=Uganda court annuls anti-homosexuality law |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28605400 |access-date=}}</ref>

{{notelist-ua|refs=
{{efn-ua|name="id bill"|text=A draft version of the Act, the Anti-Homosexuality Bill (Bill no. 3 of 2023), generated international news coverage upon its first successful passage through the parliament. Had it been enacted unamended, it would have criminalised merely identifying as gay, lesbian or bisexual, transgender or non-binary, stipulating that "hold[ing] out as a lesbian, gay, transgender, a queer or any other sexual or gender identity that is contrary to the binary categories of male and female" was committing "an offence of homosexuality" and thus liable to the penalty of ten years in prison. This provision, 2(1)(d), was excluded from the Act that was finally passed and signed into law.<ref>{{Cite news |last1= Madowo |first1=Larry |last2=Nicholls |first2=Catherine |date=2023-03-21 |title=Uganda parliament passes bill criminalizing identifying as LGBTQ, imposes death penalty for some offenses |url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/21/africa/uganda-lgbtq-law-passes-intl/index.html |access-date=2023-03-22 |work=CNN News |language=en}}</ref> 
{{block indent|Coverage on this earlier bill included:
{{ubl|{{Cite news |date=2023-03-22 |title=Uganda passes a law making it a crime to identify as LGBTQ |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/uganda-passes-bill-banning-identifying-lgbtq-2023-03-21/ |access-date=2023-03-22}}
| [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/yoweri-museveni-ap-uganda-hiv-east-african-b2305974.html "'Deeply troubling': UN rights chief on Uganda anti-gay bill"] ''The Independent''
| [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-65034343 "Uganda Anti-Homosexuality bill: Life in prison for saying you're gay"]. ''BBC News''
| [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-africa-65034513 "Cheers and applause as Uganda passes new bill banning identifying as LGBT"] ''BBC News''
| [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/21/ugandan-mps-pass-bill-imposing-death-penalty-homosexuality "Ugandan MPs pass bill imposing death penalty for homosexuality"] ''The Guardian''
| [https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/22/uganda-passes-tough-antigay-law-bans-identification-as-lgbtq "Uganda's new anti-homosexuality law bans identification as LGBTQ"] ''Aljazeera''
| [https://www.itv.com/news/2023-03-21/uganda-passes-harsh-new-bill-targeting-lgbt-community "Uganda passes harsh new bill targeting LGBT+ community"] ''ITV News''
| [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/un-rights-chief-calls-uganda-anti-gay-bill-deeply-troubling "UN rights chief calls Uganda anti-gay bill 'deeply troubling'"] ''PBS News''}} }} }}
}}

==== Zimbabwe ====
{{Main|LGBT rights in Zimbabwe}}
Zimbabwe's Former President [[Robert Mugabe]] has waged a violent [[LGBT rights in Zimbabwe|campaign against homosexuals]], claiming that before colonization, Zimbabweans did not engage in homosexual acts.<ref name="HOMO">{{cite encyclopedia| url= | page= [https://books.google.com/books?id=ezBvVdRnWKsC&dq=Mugabe+moral+campaign+homosexuality&pg=PA213 213] | title= The Scientific Study of Homosexuality and Social Policy| encyclopedia= Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender: Men and Women in the World's Cultures| first1= Carol R. |last1= Ember| first2= Melvin |last2= Ember| publisher= Springer | year= 2003| isbn= 9780306477706 | access-date= }}</ref> His first major public condemnation of homosexuality<!-- Perhaps mention a couple of the subsequent ones to cite "the first"? --> came during the [[Zimbabwe International Book Fair]] in August 1995.<ref name="ZIB">{{cite book| first= Marc |last= Epprecht| isbn= 9780773527515 |url= | page= [https://books.google.com/books?id=LvxMq2hNzm0C&dq=Mugabe+moral+campaign+homosexuality&pg=PA180 180] |title= Hungochani: The History of a Dissident Sexuality in Southern Africa| publisher= McGill-Queen's Press | year= 2004| access-date= }}</ref> He told the audience that homosexuality:
{{blockquote|
...degrades human dignity. It's unnatural and there is no question ever of allowing these people to behave worse than dogs and pigs. If dogs and pigs do not do it, why must human beings? We have our own culture, and we must re-dedicate ourselves to our traditional values that make us human beings... What we are being persuaded to accept is sub-animal behaviour and we will never allow it here. If you see people parading themselves as lesbians and gays, arrest them and hand them over to the police!<ref name="GAYRANT">{{cite web | url= http://www.kaiwright.com/gayzimbabwe_more.php?id=101_0_25_0_M |title= Under African Skies, Part I: 'Totally unacceptable to cultural norms'| website= kaiwright.com| publisher= | date= |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20060506142037/http://www.kaiwright.com/gayzimbabwe_more.php?id=101_0_25_0_M |archivedate=6 May 2006 | access-date= }}</ref>}}

In September 1995, Zimbabwe's parliament introduced legislation banning homosexual acts.<ref name="ZIB"/> In 1997, a court found [[Canaan Banana]], Mugabe's predecessor and the first President of Zimbabwe, guilty of 11 counts of sodomy and indecent assault.<ref name="BANANAtrial">{{cite book| page= [https://books.google.com/books?id=PFvYzAUheGkC&dq=Canaan+Banana+homosexual&pg=PA93 93]| title= Body, Sexuality, and Gender | department= Vol. 1| first1= Flora |last1= Veit-Wild| first2= Dirk |last2= Naguschewski| publisher= Rodopi| year= 2005| isbn= 9789042016262}}</ref> Banana's trial proved embarrassing for Mugabe, when Banana's accusers alleged that Mugabe knew about Banana's conduct and had done nothing to stop it.<ref name= "bananadeath">{{cite news| url= https://www.theguardian.com/zimbabwe/article/0,2763,1082496,00.html |title= Canaan Banana, president jailed in sex scandal, dies| work= The Guardian| date= 10 November 2003| first= Andrew |last= Meldrum | location= Pretoria| publisher= | access-date= 30 September 2021}}</ref> Regardless, Banana fled Zimbabwe only to return in 1999 and served one year in prison for his homosexual acts. Banana was also stripped of his priesthood.

== See also ==
* [[Ayoni]]
* [[Homophobia]]
* [[LGBT rights by country]]
* [[Sexual consent in law]]
* [[Societal attitudes towards homosexuality]]
* [[Timeline of LGBT history in Britain]]
* [[Utrecht sodomy trials]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060514002445/http://www.planetout.com/news/history/archive/06071999.html David Bianco, First Sodomy Laws in the American Colonies]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061209002830/http://www.ilga.org/statehomophobia/With_the_government_in_our_bedrooms_November_2006.pdf Daniel Ottosson, International Lesbian and Gay Association, "With the Government in Our Bedrooms: A Survey on the Laws Over the World Prohibiting Consenting Adult Sexual Same-Sex Acts" (Nov. 2006)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070925203515/http://www.ilga.org/statehomophobia/World_legal_wrap_up_survey_November2006.pdf International Lesbian and Gay Association, "World Legal Wrap-Up" (Nov. 2006)]

== Further reading ==
* Graham Willett, ''Living out Loud: A History of Gay and Lesbian Activism in Australia'', 2000.  {{ISBN|1-86448-949-9}}.
* Peter McWilliams, ''[[Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do]]'', 1998.  {{ISBN|0-931580-58-7}}.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100515055509/http://www.icj.org/default.asp?nodeID=349&sessID=&langage=1&myPage=Legal_Documentation&id=22974 International Human Rights Law and the Criminalization of Same-Sex Sexual Conduct], [[International Commission of Jurists]], 2010
* Steve Hail, "My Secret Service – A gay man in the REME"
* Paul Johnson "[https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1750-0206.12463 Buggery and Parliament, 1533–2017]".
* Smith & Hogan, ''Criminal Law'' (10th ed), {{ISBN|0-406-94801-1}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130925105941/http://ilga.org/ilga/en/article/1161 ILGA State-Sponsored Homophobia Report]

{{Criminalization of homosexuality}}
{{Law country lists}}
{{Discrimination}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sodomy Law}}
[[Category:Criminalization of homosexuality]]
[[Category:Legal history]]
[[Category:LGBTQ-related legislation]]
[[Category:Anal sex]]
[[Category:Human rights abuses]]