As we mark LGBT History Month, are you aware that the criminalisation of consensual same-sex intimacy in written secular law originated with the 1533 Buggery Act under King Henry VIII?
Did you know that Peru was the first country in the world to remove laws criminalising consensual same-sex intimacy, in 1924?
The Human Dignity Trust’s History of LGBT Criminalisation charts the course of criminalisation worldwide. Scroll through the timeline and explore ‘sodomy’ being first classified as an offence in the ecclesiastical courts of 13th century England, to Section 377 of the 1860 Indian Penal Code which for the first time introduced the crime of ‘carnal intercourse against the order of nature’ in a British colony, to Burkina Faso becoming the latest country to criminalise homosexuality in September 2025, to the more than a dozen countries, including Singapore, Namibia and Barbados, that have decriminalised in the last decade alone.
Notes to editors
- Visit the Human Dignity Trust’s History of LGBT Criminalisation timeline.
- Learn more about the criminalisation of same-sex intimacy globally through our Map of Jurisdictions that Criminalise LGBT People.
- The Human Dignity Trust works with LGBT activists and lawyers around the world to defend human rights in countries where private, consensual, same-sex sexual activity is criminalised. We provide free technical legal assistance to local organisations and lawyers that are challenging criminal laws that persecute people based on their sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
For more information, contact:
James Aldworth, Communications Manager, Human Dignity Trust
T: +44 (0)7394 805140
