Is being gay legal in your country?

[mark0159]

in the land of the long white cloud it's perfectly legal, I can even have a civil union.

[sv20]

in kuwait?
heck no!

[mungiyu]

In Serbia by the law everyone are equal,but also LGBT persons can't marry and addopt.Also here you can not say that you are a member of the LGBT group,if you say you will be attacked, discriminated and even killed.Here are many factions of nationalists who say that members of the LGBT are 'sick' and that should be eliminated from society (read: 'kill'). So here you can be gay, bi or lesbian only in secrecy.I hope that this situation will soon to change.

[jinger]

That sucks Mungiyu I hope things are gonna change ASAP

[geckogecco1983]

everyone should open thier eyes to sweden's way of life

[FalsoDeus]

It is, and we can also get married. Portugal is just behind in terms of adoption for gay couples and surrogacy for any couple, although that stops no-one.

[geckogecco1983]

scotland is a great place to be gay - very open , safe and comfortable

[bardd]

Gay people have the same rights as straight people. Wa have a gender-neutral marriage law.

[stykera]

I live in Bulgaria and we are somewhere in the middle. It's not illegal to be gay, but gay rights are very little cared for. And I'm not even talking about marriage or addoption, here gay bashing is not considered a hate crime, just an ordinary small offence. We do have our gay pride events for a couple of years now and I can see that people are starting sloooooooowly to think and talk about gay issues. But I can never see my country being like sweden or norway... People living in such countries should really feel lucky and never take for granted what they have.

love & peace everyone

[g_roch]

I live in Bulgaria and we are somewhere in the middle. It's not illegal to be gay, but gay rights are very little cared for. And I'm not even talking about marriage or addoption, here gay bashing is not considered a hate crime, just an ordinary small offence. We do have our gay pride events for a couple of years now and I can see that people are starting sloooooooowly to think and talk about gay issues. But I can never see my country being like sweden or norway... People living in such countries should really feel lucky and never take for granted what they have.

love & peace everyone

Those nations weren't always as friendly to gays. Talking is the number one way of expanding rights and gradually receiving the same protections and acceptance that the rest of society enjoys without thinking about it.

[othello]

Gays have always been. Million years ago we gay dinosaurs. Who needs laws nor 3rd party acceptance to do what you wanna do? I say fuck it to modern society everywhere and don't git me started bout fuckin ma own sex. I cut yous lame white people fat ass off! lol

[__Miguel_]

First up, great thread. Glad to be able to know how homosexuality is seen/dealt with in other countries.

@FalsoDeus: Viva, compatriota

As FalsoDeus has already said, here in Portugal homosexuality is legal. It''s also legal for two men or two women to get married, since sometime last year (can't remember exactly when). Civil marriage is basically equal no mater which gender the spouses are, with one single difference: the right to adopt is restricted to straight couples (though I've read that might change in the near(ish) future). Do keep in mind, though, that one man or one woman, married or otherwise, can still adopt as a single individual, though there are other obstacles to that (read below). Also, since 2001, both same-sex and opposite-sex couples who can't/won't marry may file a single tax form as a couple, plus other minor benefits.

Crime-wise, if I believe correctly, homosexuality left the Penal Code sometime around the 1980's as a punishable offense "per se". There was, however, a crime that stayed behind, and only recently (about two years ago) was removed: it was called (rough translation) "Homosexual Acts With Teenagers". According to this particular law, any man/woman (18+) found to have performed any kind of sexual act with a same-sex teenager (aged 16-18 ) would be found guilty of committing a crime, even if was consensual. Funny thing, though: the previous article (literally) of that Code was titled "Sexual Acts With Teenagers", only found it a crime for a man/woman (18+) to perform any kind of sexual act with a opposite-sex teenager (aged 16-18 ) if it was not consensual... Funny, right? When I was 18 (still a virgin), I met a 16-yo gay lad who, quite literally, knew the Kama-Sutra from A to Z and backwards, yet if we have had consensual sex, it would be my first time, and I could go to jail for up to three years for that (!).

Apart from that oddity, which thankfully was finally removed from the Penal Code (only the "Sexual Acts With Teenagers" crime remains, encompassing both non-consensual same-sex and opposite-sex sexual acts) a couple of years ago, there are no other homosexual-specific crimes.

As for donating blood, up to a few years ago, the blood donor's guide clearly stated you could not be a donor if, "being a man, you had sexual intercourse with another man". Still, there were some teams who didn't ask if you were gay or not, they simply followed common sense and tried to check if you had any potentially dangerous behavior, not caring for sexual orientation. There was a major backlash about that guide on the gay community that lasted a few years, and finally the subject is mostly resolved. However, there are still teams that keep asking men if they have ever had sex with men, and rejecting them for that alone, and the head of the country's Blood Institute has clearly backed up the idea that any man who has ever had ANY sexual contact with another man should not be allowed to donate blood.

Speaking of medial-related situations, in part it somewhat depends on how homophobic the doctor/staff is for non-married couples. However, at least since last year, you are entitled to have a person (anyone, not just blood-related family) with you at all times when you are in a Hospital, unless the attending physician considers it to be too dangerous or inconvenient. You might need to be carrying a previously-signed (and notarized) declaration if your significant other is not awake to state who should be allowed to be with him, but it's not too much of a hassle (and yes, I do know you don't usually carry a signed declaration with you, it's the lawyer in me speaking... lol).

Finally, in society at large. It really depends on where you are. The two major cities are big enough so most people just don't care either way, but even then there are reports of homosexual-related bashings, rapes and deaths, not to mention school bullying. A few smaller cities are somewhat alike. But on smaller cities, towns and villages, especially in the North, rural areas and, generally speaking, anything more than 50Km away from Lisbon and Oporto, you should not tempt your luck.

It has come to my attention that in some schools, gay kids are coming out with only minor issues, but on the work market you're better off keeping your sexual orientation to yourself. Especially if you're working in the Medicine, Law, anything Public Administration-related or blue-collar areas. At least in those areas (I work in the Law and Public Administration area), insults towards gay people are not only common, they're encouraged, so I usually just put my headphones on and crack up the volume so I don't have to hear such nonsense... That is why adoption doesn't really work for gay couples: the minute a Social worker gets wind that it's a gay couple, one of them trying to adopt (heck, or even a single gay person), you can basically forget about adopting. To my knowledge, it has never happened: both the Social Workers and the judges prefer to have children in the system to have them be with someone gay (same thing when it comes to child custody in divorces).

OK, I think that gives you a nice look of what being gay in Portugal can be like, even if it is legal to be gay here. Sorry for the colossal post.

Cheers.

Miguel

[FalsoDeus]

First up, great thread. Glad to be able to know how homosexuality is seen/dealt with in other countries.

It has come to my attention that in some schools, gay kids are coming out with only minor issues, but on the work market you're better off keeping your sexual orientation to yourself. Especially if you're working in the Medicine, Law, anything Public Administration-related or blue-collar areas. At least in those areas (I work in the Law and Public Administration area), insults towards gay people are not only common, they're encouraged, so I usually just put my headphones on and crack up the volume so I don't have to hear such nonsense... That is why adoption doesn't really work for gay couples: the minute a Social worker gets wind that it's a gay couple, one of them trying to adopt (heck, or even a single gay person), you can basically forget about adopting. To my knowledge, it has never happened: both the Social Workers and the judges prefer to have children in the system to have them be with someone gay (same thing when it comes to child custody in divorces).
Miguel

Boas! Esse conhecimento dá ares de activista (sem nada pejorativo associado, obviamente)

I'd like to add that I do remember the case of a single gay man going for adoption a few years back (four, perhaps?) and I think those news were reporting success on his part. Besides that, if you can keep the "gay" part hidden, you can get to adopt, and later on include your same-sex partner (not legally, but you get the point) which makes it a tad harder to creat problems on that area.

I'd also like to address this phenomena: more and more in the city I live in, Porto, you see a major amount of young male and female homosexuals and bisexuals (around16+ age) around the downtown areas. For what I've gathered, there's been a sort of coming out "boom" ever since the gay marriage law from last year, although I have no idea if it's country-wise or just in some cities/regions.

[RaveRocks]

While it is legal to be gay and legal for same sex marriages in Canada, we still hear about gay bashings and killings. Small minded people live everywhere and as long as it is legal for parents to instill hatred in their young children's heads, we will always live on a planet filled with bigotry and hate directed at people who are different. Pierre Elliot Trudeau took the state out of the bedrooms of the nation, but that doesn't mean homosexuality is accepted by everyone. Boat loads of new Canadians brought their culture with them and many of them are upset with our liberal laws on this topic and regularly try to stop schools from teaching that gay is normal and ok. Even in Canada, it's one step forward and two steps back.

[mystic_2009]

okay as weird as it's gonna sound....not technically

[Erial_D]

Here in Mexico city since last year we can legally marry as it is, obtain social security from our partner and all the stuff, this year the goverment aproved the law to allow homosexual couples adopt. Im very glad to see this progress...about the blood donation as far as i know, theres no sexual orientation restriction here either

[hsgen86]

In Australia, it's legal to be gay but can't marry yet, although we can register as a couple and receive all the same rights and benefits. Most people are very accepting though and more and more are now supporting gay marriage, and there has been slow but definitely steady progress on that front, which is good. So yeah I'm lucky to be here.

And I honestly don't understand why people are so against gay rights and marriage equality; It has absolutely no effect on any other their lives, why waste that much energy protesting it?

And whether by religion or government, no matter how you want to try and justify it, it's still just prejudice. You're prohibiting a group of people from accessing common rights purely because of who they are, that's prejudice.We've come a long way as a society to respect the rights of people of different ethnicities and genders, yet when it comes to gays, suddenly everyone's like "nononononononono".

Civil union is a nice start but seperate but equal is never truly equal. Civil union will still identify gay marriage as different or out of the ordinary.

And it's so easy to legalise gay marriage. Just have to change the definition of marriage from "between a man and a woman" to "between two people". It costs the government nothing.

One day society will look back at this era the same way we look back at slavery.

[meno]

i live in egypt and its ( no fuck'n way ) u cant even say that ur gay and its sooooooo hard 2 find another gay ppl here thats y being gay in egypt isnt fun and gay supposed to be fun , so ya

[g_roch]

Welcome to GT, meno. And welcome to the forums, more specifically.

We have a number of Egyptian and Middle Eastern members here. Like you, they must live in secret, but here you can be yourself.

[jinger]

Serbia

kuwait

Iceland

Bulgaria

egypt

It's great to have you here guys