Across the world, LGBTQ+ people face a shifting patchwork of criminal laws and restrictions on expression, advocacy and everyday life. Recent research points to a troubling rise in criminalisation, while figures on school bullying and healthcare access show how legal hostility can echo far beyond the courtroom.
Criminalisation is rising again
The global picture is stark: ILGA World says the number of states criminalising consensual same-sex sexual activity rose in 2025 for the first time in almost a decade. Its database counts 65 UN member states with such laws, a reminder that legal protections can move backwards as well as forwards.
The Human Dignity Trust counts 66 countries or jurisdictions that criminalise LGBT people. It says the death penalty is imposed or legally possible in 13 jurisdictions for consensual same-sex activity. The figures use different categories, so they shouldn't be treated as directly interchangeable, but both show how serious the risks remain. [2], [3]
Restrictions reach well beyond the criminal code
Criminalisation is only one part of the picture. ILGA World's legal mapping also tracks restrictions on expression linked to sexual, gender or bodily diversity, and barriers facing organisations that advocate for LGBTI rights.
The gap between legal recognition and legal protection is just as striking. Only 18 UN member states allow national legal gender recognition based on self-determination, while 37 UN member states and Taiwan have marriage equality. These measures don't capture every person's lived experience, but they help show how uneven basic rights remain from one country to another. [4]
School bullying and stigma have a human cost
For young people, hostile attitudes can follow them into the classroom. UNESCO reports that 54% of surveyed LGBTQI youth in Europe had experienced bullying related to gender expression, gender identity, sex characteristics or sexual orientation. Negative comments were widespread, and 67% said they had been targeted.
Healthcare can bring another barrier. UNAIDS reports that a median of 16% of men who have sex with men across surveyed settings experienced stigma or discrimination. The same analysis found that 9.4% avoided healthcare because of stigma or discrimination. Those numbers put a human face on a problem that can otherwise sound like a distant policy debate. [5], [6]
Political momentum is worth watching
Developments in Africa show how quickly political rhetoric can turn into proposals for new restrictions. Reuters reported that more than a dozen African countries pledged to pursue new anti-LGBT bills after a conference in Ghana, where 20 national representatives attended and 18 approved a "family values" charter.
That doesn't mean every pledge will become law. But it does make the political climate worth watching, particularly in a region where more than 30 of 54 countries already criminalise consensual same-sex sexual activity, according to the figures cited in the lead report. [7], [3]
What these figures can and can't tell us
Legal maps offer a useful starting point, not a complete account of daily life. Definitions, jurisdictions and enforcement differ, and a law's existence doesn't tell us everything about how often it's applied or how people experience it.
Still, the combined picture is hard to shrug off: criminal laws, limits on advocacy, school bullying and healthcare stigma can reinforce one another. Tracking changes matters, but so does listening to the people living with them. [2], [4], [5], [6]
It's worth keeping an eye on both the laws on the books and the lives behind the numbers.
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