Countries Where Being LGBT Is Illegal, by the Numbers

Sex between men (66 jurisdictions). Criminalises private, consensual sexual activity between men; most do so explicitly, via 'sodomy', 'buggery' or 'unnatural offences' laws. Almost half are Commonwealth jurisdictions.

Sex between women (42 countries). Criminalises private, consensual sexual activity between women, via laws against 'lesbianism', 'sexual relations with a person of the same sex' or 'gross indecency'. Even where women aren't explicitly named, lesbian and bisexual women have still faced arrest or the threat of it.

Death penalty (12 countries) where it is imposed, or at least a legal possibility, for private, consensual same-sex sexual activity. At least 6 — Iran, Northern Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen — implement it; it remains a legal possibility in Afghanistan, Brunei, Mauritania, Pakistan, Qatar, the UAE and Uganda.

Transgender identity/expression (13 countries) criminalise it directly, via 'cross-dressing', 'impersonation' or 'disguise' laws. Many more countries target transgender people indirectly, through laws against same-sex activity, vagrancy, hooliganism or public-order offences.