Laws On Us: A Global Overview of Legal Progress and Backtracking on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Gender Expression, and Sex Characteristics

“Laws On Us” documents the legal developments that impacted communities based on their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics between January 2023 and April 2024 in all 193 UN Member States, numerous non-UN Member and subnational jurisdictions. This report complements and expands on the ongoing documentation work that ILGA World continues to maintain and update through the ILGA World Database. It marks the culmination of a process aimed at significantly broadening the scope and depth of the legal monitoring and documentation efforts that the organisation offers to our communities and the world in general.

The tracking in this report encompasses 11 legal categories: the criminalisation of consensual same-sex sexual acts; restrictions to freedom of expression; restrictions to freedom of association; prohibition of discrimination; hate crime law; prohibition of incitement to hatred, violence or discrimination; regulation of socalled “conversion therapies”; same-sex marriage and other forms of civil unions; adoption by same-sex couples; restrictions on interventions on intersex minors; and legal gender recognition (amendment of name and gender markers on identity documents).  

Documentary research in the context of legal developments included in this report provides valuable insights into the trends and evolution of laws and regulations affecting the rights of LGBTI people, helping to inform advocacy efforts, shape public discourse, and guide policy interventions.