LGBTQ+ rights in 2025: What to expect across the world

LONDON - After a year that saw both major gains and a spate of setbacks for rights, 2025 is set to be another mixed year for LGBTQ+ people, with some countries achieving marriage equality and others criminalising diverse sexualities and genders. 

Last year progress was made through marriage equality in Greece and Thailand, the decriminalisation of gay sex in Namibia and Dominica and self-identification laws in Germany and Ecuador, which ease the process of changing legal gender.

However, other countries experienced considerable setbacks, with anti-LGBTQ+ legislation passing in Ghana, Mali, Georgia and Bulgaria.

A grim threshold was crossed in 2024, when the number of trans and gender-diverse people who have been murdered surpassed 5,000 for the first time since a rights group began monitoring such cases in 2008.

In the United States, more than 570 bills targeting the LGBTQ+ community were tracked by rights groups.

Here are the key things to look out for in 2025.

Liechtenstein's marriage equality law came into force on Jan. 1, having passed in May 2024.

Czechia legalised same-sex civil unions on Jan. 1, after the law was passed in April last year.

Brazil is processing a same-sex marriage bill that could become law in 2025. Same-sex couples have been able to marry since 2011 due to a court ruling, but a law would offer them the same protection as heterosexual partnerships.

Montenegro is likely to debate trans self-identification this year, after a bill was introduced in March 2023.

The United Nations Human Rights Council will discuss a report examining global discriminatory practices against intersex people in September.

Ghana's new president could sign an anti-LGBTQ+ bill into law after it was passed unanimously by parliament in February 2024. The bill, which further criminalises LGBTQ+ Ghanaians and LGBTQ+ activity, has faced multiple challenges in court.

A similar anti-LGBTQ+ bill which would introduce life imprisonment for "aggravated homosexuality" will be debated in Liberia, after it was introduced to parliament in August 2024.

Donald Trump will enter office as U.S. president on Jan. 20. Trump has pledged to roll back a number of LGBTQ+ rights, including banning gender-affirming healthcare for trans minors.

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide on whether a Tennessee law banning gender-affirming care for trans youth discriminates against people on the basis of sex. The ruling, expected in June, is likely to have national implications for trans people of all ages.

In Japan, two more high court rulings over marriage equality are expected in March. They are the latest cases after multiple same-sex couples sued for the right to marry.

A European court is set to rule in January on whether a French national rail company has the right to request and display a person's gender on train tickets. The decision is expected to impact legal protections for non-binary people across the European Union.

The International Olympic Committee will elect a new president in March, with at least one candidate opposed to the inclusion of trans women in female categories of sport.

India's Supreme Court could rule on a petition against the country's blood donation rules, which prohibit LGBTQ+ people and sex workers from donating.

(Reporting by Lucy Middleton; Editing by Ayla Jean Yackley.)