Thailand’s landmark gay marriage equality law came into force on Thursday. With this, Thailand has become the first country in South-East Asia and the third country in Asia after Taiwan and Nepal to legalize the marriage of same-sex couples.
Now any LGBTQ couple over the age of 18, whether Thai or from any other country, can get married in Thailand.
Now in Thailand, homosexuals will also get all the legal rights that heterosexuals get. This includes engagement, marriage registration, divorce, use of your spouse’s last name, joint management of property, tax benefits, social security, health care, adoption and inheritance.
Apart from Thailand, there are about three dozen countries in the world which have recognized gay marriage. Countries like Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, America, Britain have legalized gay marriage.
But there are some countries in the world where gay marriage or homosexual relations are considered a crime and in many cases death penalty is given for this ‘crime’. Most of these are Islamic countries where Sharia law is applicable.
Country where homosexuality is a capital sin
Yemen- Forget about gay marriage, in the Muslim country of Yemen, if someone even has a homosexual relationship, it is considered a crime and punished. According to the Penal Code of Yemeni law 1994, if a married man has homosexual relations, he can be killed by stoning. In Yemen, if an unmarried man has homosexual relations, he is flogged and can even be imprisoned for one year. At the same time, if a woman has homosexual relations, she can be jailed for seven years.
Iran- Iran is governed by Sharia law, which provides for the death penalty for homosexuality. There, if a man has sex with another man, he can be given death penalty. At the same time, if a man kisses his homosexual partner instead of having sex, he is whipped. Even if a woman does this, she is flogged publicly.
mauritania- A 1984 law in the African country of Mauritania states that if a Muslim man has homosexual relations, he should be stoned until he dies. However, in Mauritania there have been very few cases of homosexuals being killed by stoning. At the same time, women are given jail sentence for homosexual relations.
Nigeria- Nigeria’s federal law considers homosexuality a capital sin and carries a prison sentence. But Sharia law is applicable in many states of the country where if a man has homosexual relations, he can be given death penalty. Nigeria has enacted a law prohibiting homosexuals from forming their own club or even holding any meeting.
Queue- Even in the Islamic country Qatar, if a Muslim has homosexual relations, he can be given death penalty. In Qatar, having an extramarital affair after marriage, whether homosexual or heterosexual, is a crime and carries the death penalty.
Saudi Arabia- Under Sharia law in the Islamic country Saudi Arabia, if a man has homosexual relations, he can be given death penalty. If a man from any other religion other than Islam has sex with a Muslim man in Saudi Arabia, he can be killed by stoning. Any kind of relationship outside marriage is illegal in Saudi and there is a provision of punishment for it.
Afghanistan- Sharia law is in force in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and homosexuality is considered a crime there. Here, the culprit of homosexuality is given death penalty in serious cases. There have been no cases of the death penalty for homosexuality since the fall of Taliban rule in Afghanistan in 2001. But Taliban again captured Afghanistan in August 2021, after which Sharia laws are being strictly implemented there.
Somalia- In the African country Somalia, homosexuality is punishable by jail. But in some southern areas, Islamic courts impose the death penalty for homosexuality.
Sudan- Homosexuality is also considered a crime in the African country Sudan. Under Sudan’s homosexuality law, if someone commits a homosexual crime three times in a row, he can be given the death penalty. If found guilty of having homosexual relations for the first or second time, the punishment is flogging and imprisonment. However, in the southern parts of the country there are not very cruel laws regarding homosexuality.
United Arab Emirates (UAE)- Homosexual relations are banned in UAE. If a man has homosexual relations there, he can be given imprisonment as well as death penalty. At the same time, if a foreign man has homosexual relations in the UAE, then if found guilty, he can be deported, put in jail and in serious cases can even be given the death penalty.
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