Muslim nations add anti-gay laws as Christian nations repeal them
Now 55% of countries with anti-gay laws are Muslim; 39% are Christian
More than half (36) of the world’s 66 countries that have anti-LGBT laws are nations where a majority of the citizens are Muslims.
By comparison, 26 Christian-majority countries account for 39 percent of the countries that still have anti-LGBT laws on their books.
Two years ago, in contrast with the current 55%-39% split, the tally of countries with anti-homosexuality laws was 50%-44% Muslim to Christian.
In recent years, the number of Christian-majority nations with anti-homosexuality laws has shrunk.
Many of those laws were overturned through court rulings (Dominica in 2024; St. Lucia in 2025; Namibia in 2024; Mauritius in 2023; Barbados, St. Kitts and Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda in 2022; Belize in 2016.
Others were repealed by through legislative action (Niue in 2024; Cook Islands in 2023; Singapore in 2022; Angola and Botswana in 2019; Seychelles and Nauru in 2016; Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Palau in 2014).
In Trinidad, a court in 2018 overturned the nation’s anti-gay law, but an appeals court reversed that decision in 2025.
Similar laws have been dropped in Hindu-majority Mauritius (2023), Buddhist-majority Bhutan (2021) and in Hindu-majority India (2018).
No Muslim-majority nation has repealed an anti-LGBT law recently. In fact, Muslim-majority Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger all enacted anti-LGBT laws in the past two years.
Explanations for that trend include:
- African nations’ unflagging resentment toward their former colonial masters in Europe, where LGBT rights are widely accepted, and
- Islam’s traditional hostility to homosexuality. As the Middle East Forum website stated last year:
“Homosexuality is a sin punishable by death, according to the Quran, hadith, and Islamic Law.
“Within many Islamic societies, such a stance on homosexuality is unequivocal: It is a major sin with no room for reinterpretation. … The Australian National Imams Council, representing over 200 imams in a country that prides itself on its liberalism, asserts that homosexuality is a forbidden action and anyone who partakes in it is a disobedient servant to God. Their view represents the rule rather than exception among Islamic scholars and institutions. …
“While some argue for a re-examination of Islamic teachings on same-sex relationships, suggesting that traditional interpretations may be misinformed or contextually outdated, these perspectives remain marginal within the broader Muslim community.”
Click here to see lists of Muslim-majority, Christian-majority and other nations with anti-homosexuality laws.
Thank you for this important article. Unfortunately most will not pay attention to ongoing dangers experienced in various regions -. Two things deserving of mentioning in this context: 1. Ghana which has a majority of Christians has just passed one of the worst anti-LGBTI laws on the planet awaiting assent by President Mahama. Why is it one of worst – because it explicitly criminalizes identity by making merely “holding out” as LGBTTQAP (yes their acronym) an offense, This continues to be promoted by mostly Christian evangelicals – notable recent conference you have covered here. 2. – It is time families in these criminalizing countries loved their children enough to question the religions that insists on harming them – violently.