2024 LGBTQ Global Rights Progress - Asia, Africa, and Oceania
Some surprising victories amid news of setbacks
Today is part five of my look back at how the fight for global LGBTQ rights has evolved over the previous 12 months, focusing on Asia, Africa, and Oceania.
You can also still read my previous entries on North America, Latin America & Caribbean, Western Europe, and Eastern Europe.
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Southeast Asia
Thailand: The biggest news of the year came from Thailand, where after a series of dramatic political crises, Parliament finally legalized same-sex marriage and adoption. Marriages are set to begin January 22. The government is working on updating secondary legislation, like family and surrogacy law, to ensure equality for same-sex couples.
Home to 71 million people, Thailand is the largest country by population to legalize same-sex marriage since Germany in 2017, and the biggest area we got to color in on the same-sex marriage map since Chile in 2022. Thailand is also the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage through the legislature without a court order.
After parliament rejected a proposed gender recognition law by the opposition, the PM requested his cabinet draft an update on the law allowing legal gender changes.
The Thai cabinet also rejected calls to abolish the death penalty.
Thailand joined the Equal Rights Coalition of countries supporting LGBT rights; it is the first Asian country to join.
Vietnam: A Gender Affirmation Law was meant to be discussed by the National Assembly this year, but it has been indefinitely postponed.
Singapore: The government introduced a non-discrimination bill that left out protections for LGBT people.
Malaysia: In February, the federal court struck down sodomy laws in Kelantan state, ruling that these usurped federal power (which already criminalizes sodomy). In November, Kelantan passed a law banning the promotion of LGBT rights and activity in entertainment.
The rock band The 1975 was sued by concert promoters after their show was shut down by censors when lead singer Matty Healy criticized anti-gay laws and kissed a male bandmate on stage last year.
Last year’s other crazy Malaysia story was about the seizure of rainbow-colored Swatch watches that the government objected to. In November, courts ruled that the seizure was unwarranted and the Swatches were returned in December.
Malaysia also removed hundreds of people from death row after ending the mandatory death penalty last year.
Philippines: A non-discrimination bill, a civil union bill, and a cohabitation bill continue to languish in congress, but little victories popped up for LGBT rights. The government allowed trans civil servants to dress according to their gender and updated a media advisory board to promote gender equality. Quezon City created a “right to care” card for same-sex couples to designate their partners to have medical visitation and decision-making rights.
Timor-Leste: The government passed a law requiring police officers to provide service without discrimination based on sexual orientation.
East Asia
Japan: 2024 may yet prove to have been a pivotal moment in the fight for same-sex marriage in Japan.
11 additional prefectures established partnership registries for same-sex couples in 2024 (Yamagata, Wakayama, Aichi, Hyogo, Nara, Oita, Tokushima, Yamaguchi, Shiga, Fukushima, and Niigata), bringing the total to 30 out of 47, plus an additional 430+ municipalities that have created local registries. In April, three prefectures launched a network for mutual recognition of partnership registries, and it’s since grown to include 20 prefectures and more than 150 municipalities. Aichi extended its partnership registry to include “familyship” (recognition of children and in-laws), the third prefecture to do so. And a handful of municipalities amended their registry forms to use identical language to refer to partners as they would to straight married spouses.
The legal battle for same-sex marriage continued through the courts, with three appellate courts all agreeing that the ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional but ordering no remedy. Three more appellate court cases and a district court case are expected in 2025, and these will all eventually end up at the Supreme Court, which will have to resolve the issue.
How will the Supreme Court rule? Well, this year, they gave us a clues. In March, the Supreme Court ruled that a surviving partner ought to be entitled to benefits the government gives to victims of crime. Also that month, a family court in Nagoya allowed same-sex partners to adopt a common surname, ruling that they’re in a relationship akin to marriage.
All this seems to be shifting the political winds, albeit slightly. Snap elections in October yielded a minority government for the incumbent LDP, which is largely conservative on LGBT rights. But at least one advocacy group believes Parliament now has a majority of MPs who support same-sex marriage, and by December, even Prime Minister Ishiba was expressing support for equal marriage despite having no plan to bring forward legislation, at least until the court process plays out. One to watch.
South Korea: The Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that the National Health Insurance Service must provide equal benefits to same-sex partners in July. There’s at least some chance the Constitutional Court – which battles with the Supreme Court over which is truly ‘supreme’ – may sweep in to overrule this ruling, as they did by recriminalizing sodomy in the military last year. In the meantime, the NHIS has been ignoring the ruling, claiming it’s impossible to know who even counts as a couple, because there’s no legal recognition of same-sex couples.
Eleven couples began the legal process of suing for equal marriage rights in October, and likely we’ll see the courts fight out over who is supreme again.
Seoul’s Pride Festival was once again pushed out of the main city square by city council, and was heavily protested, as is becoming normal in South Korea.
The currently impeached president appointed a noted homophobic bigot to chair the National Human Rights Commission, over the objections of civil society and bypassing the National Assembly.
South Korea is in the midst of a democratic and political crisis, with the president and acting president having both been impeached in the last month.
No news from North Korea, which is busy fighting for Russia in Ukraine, for some reason.
China: Early in the year there were reports of a growing crackdown on LGBT bars that led a lesbian bar in Shanghai to shut down.
There was also a report of queer people being forced into conversion therapy programs, but by the end of the year, at least one case of a trans woman who was awarded damages by a court after she was forced to undergo conversion therapy.
While the government reconfirmed it had no plans to introduce same-sex marriage like Taiwan has, at least one court recognized a lesbian couple as coparents of their child.
In Hong Kong, the situation is a little different. Last year, the Court of Final Appeal gave the government until 2025 to establish a recognition scheme for same-sex couples that was equivalent to marriage. The government has not moved on this, with at least one legislator asking Beijing to intervene to block it. This year, the CFA supplemented that ruling with additional rulings that the city must recognize foreign same-sex marriages/unions and treat same-sex couples equally for public housing and inheritance.
The city also slightly loosened regulations around legal gender recognition. Applicants must still prove they’ve undergone medical treatment and at least some surgery, although the full suite of vaginoplasty/phalloplasty is no longer required. This was meant to bring the regulations in line with a 2023 CFA ruling that surgical requirements were unconstitutional, but I’m not sure how this does that.
Taiwan: The government removed barriers for cross-straits same-sex couples who wished to marry. Previously, couples had to reside together in mainland China for a period of time before their marriage would be recognized, something that was difficult or impossible for same-sex couples. Chinese nationals may still face difficulties leaving China, as the marriage won’t be recognized.
Taiwan’s top court upheld a requirement of a medical diagnosis to change legal gender. The court also upheld the use of the death penalty.
The government was drafting legislation to open up assisted reproduction and surrogacy to non-heterosexual couples – it’s out for consultation now and will likely go through in the new year.
South Asia
Nepal: There’s ongoing dispute on Wikipedia over whether or not same-sex marriage is legal in Nepal. So let me be clear: it’s legal. The Supreme Court issued a binding, albeit temporary, order to register same-sex couples last year. And while some couples have faced difficulties actually registering these marriages, the government issued a directive this April to all offices ordering them to register these marriages and dozens of couples have. These marriages do not have all the legal effects of heterosexual couples yet, but they are indeed marriages duly recognized and authorized by the government.
No word yet on when the full Supreme Court is going to decide on the issue, but the government is working hard to promote LGBTQ tourism, so it seems they see an upside.
The Supreme Court also issued a landmark judgement allowing a trans person to change her legal gender without undergoing sex reassignment surgery. The decision doesn’t set a binding precedent.
India: While the Supreme Court refused to legalize same-sex marriage last year, it did order the government to end discrimination against same-sex couples, and the government did take some notable steps this year. The government directed all banks to treat same-sex couples equally when opening joint bank accounts or naming beneficiaries. The government also made changes to the national health insurance plan to be more inclusive of LGBT people and couples. Other rights include prison visitation, ration cards, and claiming deceased partner’s body.
It’s still an open question *how* these couples are meant to be legally recognized. During national elections, the opposition Congress Party pledged to introduce civil unions, and though they lost, they outperformed expectations, holding PM Modi’s BJP to a minority relying on coalition partners to govern.
The government also directed states to ban conversion therapy and is looking at ways to prevent unnecessary surgeries on intersex children.
Sri Lanka: A bill to delete the colonial-era sodomy law did not advance at all this year. But it was supported by the National People Power party during November elections that it won with a commanding majority. We’ll see if they make it a priority in the new year. Sri Lanka has been in a kind of constant economic and political crisis for years now, so the new government has its hands full.
An opposition MP also introduced a bill to ban conversion therapy.
Bangladesh: Nationwide protests sprung up over a seventh-grade textbook that includes a story about a hijra (third-gender) person. A lesbian couple were arrested for disturbing the public order by cohabiting. And over at 76crimes, I edited way too many stories about gay and trans people being murdered.
Central Asia
Kazakhstan: The president signed a law banning same-sex couples from adopting. Parliament also debated bringing forward a Russia-inspired “LGBT propaganda” law.
Uzbekistan: An MP announced that his party was working on an “LGBT propaganda” law, inspired by the tweets of Donald Trump.
Middle East
Iraq: One of the biggest setbacks in the region occurred in April, when the Iraqi parliament passed a new law criminalizing gay sex and promotion of homosexuality, as well as criminalizing anyone who undergoes or performs sex reassignment surgery. Previously, Iraq didn’t have a specific law against homosexuality, although vague laws about protecting morals could be used to harass LGBT people, who often also suffered extrajudicial punishment. This law actually codifies it. Penalties include up to 15 years imprisonment.
Meanwhile, parliament also considered a law that would lower the minimum marriage age for girls to 9, legalizing and institutionalizing child rape, because morality.
Iran: Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian won the presidential election, which may help soften some of the regime’s worst and most bellicose habits, but don’t expect miracles. Iran lost a lot of power in the region as its proxies in Syria and Lebanon suffered big defeats.
Israel: In March, the Supreme Court ordered that both mothers in a lesbian relationship must be listed on their child’s birth certificate, and that the registration should be automatic, as it is for other married couples. The decision applies only to lesbian couples who conceived via an anonymous sperm donor.
A court also ruled that a queer Palestinian man was eligible to claim refugee status in Israel.
Of course, the bigger humanitarian issue here is the ongoing war in Gaza, which seems to show no signs of slowing down.
Qatar: The biggest story of the year concerned a British-Mexican man who was detained by police for months amid a sting operation that caught him using Grindr, but officially charged him with possession of illicit drugs that he says were planted by police. He was eventually released amid mounting pressure, particularly from Britain.
Syria: The brutal Assad regime which has governed Syria for more than fifty years came to an end, and with it, the civil war that has wracked the country for over a decade. The jury’s still out on how the new regime will treat LGBT people, but my guess is that it won’t be much of an improvement, even if the general human rights situation does improve.
Yemen: A provincial court in an area run by the Houthi rebels sentenced several people to death for homosexuality in February.
Oceania
Australia: The biggest national news came from the federal Labor government announcing that it was abandoning its pledge to close a loophole in discrimination law allowing religious schools to discriminate against LGBT teachers and students, as it claimed it could not find consensus on the issue – an impossible bar.
The federal government introduced a hate crime bill that includes explicit protections for LGBT people; it hasn’t yet been brought to a vote. Tasmania announced it was also drafting LGBT-inclusive hate crime legislation, while Victoria announced it would extend its hate speech laws to include LGBT people in 2025. Queensland passed a bill updating its hate speech laws to better include trans and intersex people
The Australian Bureau of Statistics announced it would count LGBT people in the next census, after some drama when they initially said they wouldn’t.
New South Wales and South Australia both banned conversion therapy. Long-promised bans in Tasmania and Western Australia did not advance, but if they pass in 2025, that would only leave the Northern Territory uncovered.
New South Wales, Queensland, and the Capital Territory all abolished medical requirements for legal gender change. Western Australia abolished the surgical requirement but still requires a note from a medical provider. All of these now allow a nonbinary gender option.
New South Wales also passed a major “Equality Amendment Act,” which bundled together a number of LGBT rights issues under one bill. The final package was watered down from the original draft, but it still ended the surgical requirement to legally change gender (the last jurisdiction to do so); included protections for trans people in hate crime laws; depathologized trans people; updated family law to facilitate surrogacy; banned unnecessary surgeries on intersex children; repealed the offense of living off the avails of a sex worker; and created a domestic violence offense of outing an LGBTQ partner. Dropped from the law was a proposal to close the religious schools discrimination loophole
Earlier in the year, NSW also issued an apology for past anti-LGBT laws and practices and created a scheme to allow old convictions to expire.
There was an attempt to ban LGBT books from libraries in Cumberland, but the council rescinded the order amid public protest and threat from the state government.
Western Australia’s government said it would support repealing its ban on surrogacy (the only state ban in Australia) but has not brought forward legislation to do so. The government had also previously committed to expanding antidiscrimination law to cover trans and intersex people and to end the religious schools exemption, but didn’t do so. They say legislation will only come after state elections in March.
A ban on unnecessary surgeries on intersex babies came into effect in the ACT this year.
Queensland repealed a loophole allowing fertility clinics to discriminate against LGBT people.
New Zealand: Anti-LGBT zealots were fined after they repeatedly vandalized rainbow crosswalks and protested drag story hours in communities across the country.
Vanuatu: Parliament amended its Marriage Act to explicitly ban same-sex marriage. The government says its working on legislation to ban expression or advocacy for LGBT people.
Africa
Namibia: The High Court ruled that colonial era sodomy laws were unconstitutional, striking all references to “sodomy” in several laws.
A bill that passed parliament 2023 seeking to overturn a Supreme Court ruling requiring the government to recognize foreign same-sex marriages for immigration purposes (and which would also criminalize LGBT expression) remaining unsigned by the President Geingob, who died in February, and his successor President Mbumba. A new President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah takes office in March; she has previously campaigned in support of the law, but has not specifically said she would sign it. I’m also not certain if the bill persists after the expiration of the current parliament or if it would have to be re-passed by the current new parliament.
This is a trouble spot to watch out for, but there does appear to be a fairly strong Supreme Court as a bulwark against the worst legislative impulses.
South Africa: President Ramaphosa signed a Hate Crimes and Hate Speech law that had been passed by parliament in 2023. The law includes protections for LGBTI people and people living with HIV.
Zimbabwe: Parliament passed a bill to end the death penalty and it was signed into law on December 31. Everyone on death row will be re-sentenced.
That’s all the countries around the world. I’ll be back on Monday with a look back at the overall picture, global trends over 2024, and what I’m looking forward to in 2025.
Seychelles: Parliament passed a hate crime law that includes protections for LGBTI people and people living with HIV.
Comoros: A lesbian couple was arrested under the country’s anti-homosexuality law.
Lesotho: Parliament passed an updated Labour Act that bans employment discrimination against LGBT people and people living with HIV, and mandates equal pay for equal work for men and women.
Mauritius: The country reached an agreement with the UK to regain control of the British Indian Ocean Territory, although the agreement may be scuttled by the newly elected Mauritian government. If it passes, BIOT will likely cease to exist as a separate jurisdiction, and will no longer have legal same-sex marriages – unless BIOT persists as a legal entity for the proposed UK lease of Diego Garcia atoll.
Morocco: A proposed revision and liberalization of the penal code has still not advanced, as the religious opposition rallies against it. It’s not entirely clear how liberalized the new code would be. There hasn’t been much talk about decriminalizing gay sex, but there has been discussion about ending the criminalization of adultery and extra-marital sex. Part of the opposition to this comes from hoteliers, who run a good business charging unmarried couples extra for discretion when they want to share a room (which is otherwise illegal).
Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger: These three former French colonies with Muslim majorities never had laws that criminalized gay sex, even as social attitudes were widely unaccepting. That looks like its going to end, as all three have been taken over by military coups in recent years driven in part by antipathy toward France and the West, and with sympathies toward Russia. The military regimes in Burkina Faso and Mali have announced new penal and family codes that will criminalize homosexuality and “associated practices,” but these codes have not yet been officially enacted or even published, so we don’t know what’s in them. Niger has not yet announced specific new anti-LGBT policies, but it’s likely only a matter of time. For present purposes, I’m not yet counting any of these as criminalizing states until the new laws are published and brought into force.
The three states have announced plans to form a “confederation.” It’s not clear yet what this confederation will be (A new nation? A trading bloc?) or when it will come into effect. The three countries have announced plans to withdraw from thee ECOWAS regional economic bloc, with ECOWAS recently responding by expelling them effective the end of July 2025.
Ghana: The Supreme Court upheld Ghana’s sodomy law, and then dismissed a challenge to an even more severe anti-LGBT law that had been passed by parliament in February because it hadn’t yet been signed by the president and thus couldn’t be challenged. The newly elected president hasn’t committed to signing the law, although he has said he supports it. Among a suite of draconian prohibitions on LGBT organization and expression, the law would criminalize lesbianism for the first time.
Cameroon: The president’s daughter came out as a lesbian in an Instagram post, sparking some hope that she might inspire change and decriminalization of homosexuality.
Gabon: The country passed a new constitution by referendum, which incidentally includes a ban on same-sex marriage.
Kenya: A court in Mombasa issued an interim order to anti-LGBT groups to stop inciting violence against LGBT people.
Uganda: The Anti-Homosexuality Act has continued to have dire repercussions for the country’s LGBT people. While the bill was upheld by the Constitutional Court, a fresh challenge was filed with the Supreme Court.
In November, a court awarded damages to 20 people who were detained on suspicion of homosexuality during the COVID era.
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𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗢𝗕𝗜𝗧𝗨𝗔𝗥𝗬 𝗢𝗙 𝗗𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗗 𝗝. 𝗧𝗥𝗨𝗠𝗣
𝗜𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗸 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗝𝗶𝗺𝗺𝘆 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝗮 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗿𝘂𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗖𝗿𝘂𝗲𝗹𝘁𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗼𝘀
https://patricemersault.substack.com/p/the-obituary-of-donald-j-trump