Five gains for LGBTQ+ rights despite global setbacks

• LGBTQ+ rights suffer setbacks globally in 2025
• But pockets of hope on gay marriage, trans rights
• Pride parties like never before 

LONDON - It has been a year of LGBTQ+ setbacks - with rights vanishing, funding slashed and hostility on the rise.

But LGBTQ+ activists point to pockets of progress, too - be it on gay marriage, trans rights or protection from hate crime.

"I refuse to see (2025) only as a year of backlash ... because there are warriors everywhere that are making everyday gains," said Victor Madrigal-Borloz, the former UN Independent Expert on sexual orientation and gender identity, during a human rights event at the British Foreign Office in early December.

U.S. President Donald Trump directed a series of executive orders against LGBTQ+ people on retaking office, while Hungary moved to ban Pride events in March, the same month lawmakers in Ghana resubmitted a tough anti-LGBTQ+ bill.

Trinidad and Tobago recriminalised same-sex relations between men in March and Burkina Faso's parliament voted to outlaw homosexual acts in September.

But despite such setbacks, there have been moments of progress and resilience, spanning the globe.
Here are five areas of notable gains in 2025.

Same-sex marriage and civil partnerships

Liechtenstein and Thailand legalised same-sex marriage, with both laws taking effect in January.

In April, a high court in Lithuania ruled that a civil code that only allowed male-female unions was unconstitutional, opening the door to same-sex civil partnerships.

The first same-sex civil partnership ceremony took place in September between two women.

The EU's highest court issued an historic ruling in November declaring that a same-sex marriage sanctioned by any other member nation must be respected throughout the bloc, following a case brought forward by a gay Polish couple.

The ruling does not require members to legalise same-sex marriage, the court said.

In November the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a bid to overturn its landmark 2015 ruling that legalised same-sex marriage nationwide. 

It followed the 10th anniversary of the legislation in June, which was celebrated by couples across the country.

Decriminalisation

Caribbean island Saint Lucia decriminalised same-sex relations in July, repealing provisions that had made consensual same-sex activity punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Although rarely enforced, the colonial law legitimised stigma and discrimination against minorities, activists said.

Saint Lucia is the fifth country in the Eastern Caribbean to decriminalise gay sex, following Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, and Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Legal gender recognition

Puerto Rico's Supreme Court ruled in June that non-binary and gender non-confirming people - who identify as neither male nor female - could change their gender on birth certificates to an "X" marker.

In July, Cuba passed a law allowing people to change their gender identity on birth certificates, ID cards and other legal documents without having to undergo gender-affirming surgery.

The change is expected to come into effect by mid-2026.

Kenya's High Court ruled in August that the government must legally recognise the identities of transgender people and safeguard their rights, following a lawsuit from a trans woman who underwent forced examinations when detained in prison.

It also ruled that the state has an obligation to provide facilities and policies safeguarding trans people in detention and should reform its Prisons Act.

Protection from discrimination and hate crime

Canada introduced a bill in September creating new offences and increasing the penalties for hate crimes on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

In the Philippines, a long-term anti-discrimination proposal was resubmitted to lawmakers to ban any unfair treatment of LGBTQ+ people across social services, healthcare and employment.

The European Commission unveiled its LGBTQ+ strategy in October, proposing a "knowledge hub" to tackle online hate crime and weighing a new law to define such offences.

Four Mexican states changed their penal code to make the killing of a trans person a crime of transfemicide, punishable by up to 70 years in prison.

Nayarit was the first Mexican state to classify transfemicide as a crime last year. 

Pride and Protest

Pride marches went ahead in Budapest and Pécs this year, despite Hungary banning all such events.

An estimated 100,000 people, including 70 European diplomats, took part in the Budapest march in June. 

In Britain, an estimated 100,000 marched in London Trans Pride in July, making it the largest event of its kind ever recorded globally.

WorldPride paraded past the White House in June, and EuroPride was celebrated in Lisbon, Portugal.

(Reporting by Lucy Middleton, additional reporting by Emma Batha; editing by Lyndsay Griffiths)