Sodomy law

Legal status of sodomy around the world (2022):
  Legal
  Illegal

A sodomy law makes certain sexual acts a crime. Very often, the law mentions the term sodomy, but doesn't say precisely which sexual acts are covered. If the sexual acts are not spelled out, courts usually understand this to mean sexual acts that are "unnatural" or "immoral".[1] Sodomy typically includes anal sex, oral sex, and bestiality.[2][3][4] In practice, sodomy laws have rarely been enforced against heterosexual couples, and have mostly been used to target homosexual couples.[5]

As of December 2022, 65 countries as well as four sub-national jurisdictions[a] have laws criminalizing homosexuality.[6] In 2006 that number was 92.[7][8] Among these 66 countries, 42 criminalize not only male homosexuality but also female homosexuality. In 11 of them, homosexuality is punished with the death penalty.[6]: 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.

References

  1. ↑ Weeks, Jeff (January 1981). Sex, Politics and Society: The Regulation of Sexuality Since 1800. London: Longman Publishing Group. ISBN 0-582-48334-4.
  2. ↑ Phelps, Shirelle (2001). World of Criminal Justice: N-Z. Gale Group. p. 686. ISBN 0787650730. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  3. ↑ Scheb, John; Scheb, John II (2013). Criminal Law and Procedure. Cengage Learning. p. 185. ISBN 978-1285546131. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  4. ↑ Newton, David (2009). Gay and Lesbian Rights: A Reference Handbook (2nd ed.). ABC-CLIO. p. 85. ISBN 978-1598843071. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
  5. ↑ Sullivan, Andrew (24 March 2003). "Unnatural Law". The New Republic. Vol. 228, no. 11. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "State Sponsored Homophobia" (PDF). ILGA.org. International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 December 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  7. ↑ "71 Countries Where Homosexuality is Illegal". 76crimes.com. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  8. ↑ Roeder, Kaela (8 July 2020). "Gabon formally decriminalizes homosexuality". Washington Blade. Retrieved 30 September 2021.

Notes

  1. ↑ These sub-national jurisdictions are: the province of Aceh (Indonesia), the Cook Islands (New Zealand), Gaza (Palestine) and Chechnya (Russia).