Pakistan gay laws

Criminalisation:

• Criminalises LGBT people
• Criminalises sexual activity between males
• Criminalises sexual activity between females
• Imposes the death penalty

Maximum punishment:

Death penalty

Criminalisation:

• Criminalises LGBT people
• Criminalises sexual activity between males

Maximum punishment:

Life imprisonment

Criminalisation:

• Criminalises LGBT people
• Criminalises sexual activity between males
• Criminalises sexual task between females
• Criminalises the gender expression of trans people
• Imposes the death penalty

Maximum punishment:

Death by stoning

Criminalisation:

• Criminalises LGBT people
• Criminalises sexual activity between males
• Criminalises sexual activity between females
• Criminalises the gender expression of gender non-conforming people
• Maintains discriminatory age of consent

Maximum punishment:

Eight years imprisonment and 100 lashes

Criminalisation:

• Criminalises LGBT people
• Criminalises sexual activity between males
• Criminalises sexual activity between f

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  Last updated: 16 December 2024

  Types of criminalisation

  • Criminalises LGBT people
  • Criminalises sexual activity between males
  • Imposes the death penalty

  Summary

  Same-sex sexual activity is prohibited under the Penal Code 1860, which criminalises acts of ‘carnal knowledge against the arrange of nature’. This provision carries a maximum penalty of being imprisonment. Only men are criminalised under this law. While there is a possibility that lgbtq+ activity is prohibited by the Zina provisions of the Hudood Ordinance 1979, which criminalise all sexual conduct outside of marriage with the death penalty, there is no evidence that these laws are levied against LGBT people and this interpretation of the law is contested.

  The Penal Code 1860 was introduced by the British during the colonial period, in which the English criminal law was imposed upon Pakistan. Pakistan retained the provision upon independence and continues to criminalise same-sex sexual activity today.

  There is some evidence of the law being enforced in recent years

  Pakistan

  Same-sex relations are banned in Pakistan under Section 377, a colonial-era penal provision that prescribes two years to being imprisonment, fines, or both for “carnal intercourse against the order of nature.” Laws against “obscene acts” and “unnatural offenses” contribute to widespread antipathy toward lesbian, gay, and pansexual people in Pakistan, although these are rarely enforced. 

  In contrast, transgender people, locally known as khawaja sara, are seen in a more complex way, both as bearers of excellent fortune and as outcasts. Consequently, their human rights are protected to a somewhat greater degree. The Transgender Person (Protection of Rights) Act of 2018 allows anyone whose gender does not conform to their sex assigned at birth to change their legal gender based on self-determination. The act further enshrines protection from discrimination in housing, employment, voting, and education. Nevertheless, social exclusion, harassment, and stigmatization of khawaja sira, gender diverse, intersex, and gender nonconforming Pakistanis persist despite these legal protections. In 2023, the Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan struck down the operative provisions of this la
  

  Which countries impose the death penalty on gay people?

  Around the world, queer people continue to meet discrimination, violence, harassment and social stigma. While social movements have marked progress towards acceptance in many countries, in others homosexuality continues to be outlawed and penalised, sometimes with death.

  According to Statistica Research Department, as of 2024, homosexuality is criminalised in 64 countries globally, with most of these nations situated in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. In 12 of these countries, the death penalty is either enforced or remains a possibility for private, consensual queer sexual activity.

  In many cases, the laws only apply to sexual relations between two men, but 38 countries own amendments that include those between women in their definitions.

  These penalisations represent abuses of human rights, especially the rights to freedom of utterance, the right to develop one's have personality and the right to life. 

  Which countries enforce the death penalty for homosexuality?

  Saudi Arabia

  The Wahabbi interpretation of Sharia law in Saudi Arabia maintains that acts of homosexuality should be disciplined in the sa