Muslim nations add anti-gay laws as Some Christian nations repeal them

By Melanie Nathan, June 22, 2026

The below article is published at Erase 76 Crimes: With thanks to Colin Stewart at Erase 76 crimes - this analysis that is crucial to understanding the complex global environment for LGBTQI+ people- I point out some additional considerations at the end of his piece. What is also important is the fact that when providing country conditions reporting for LGBTQI+ people , the majority religion in particular countries feature strongly to understanding the dynamics and climates - towards findings of credibility by adjudicators in immigration courts.

Muslim nations add anti-gay laws as Christian nations repeal them

June 22, 2026 - Colin Stewart

Now 55% of countries with anti-gay laws are Muslim; 39% are Christian

More than half (36) of the world’s 66 countries that have anti-LGBT laws are nations where a majority of the citizens are Muslims.

By comparison, 26 Christian-majority countries account for 39 percent of the countries that still have anti-LGBT laws on their books.

Two years ago, in contrast with the current 55%-39% split, the tally of countries with anti-homosexuality laws was 50%-44% Muslim to Christian .

In recent years, the number of Christian-majority nations with anti-homosexuality laws has shrunk.

Many of those laws were overturned through court rulings (Dominica in 2024; St. Lucia in 2025; Namibia in 2024;  Mauritius in 2023; Barbados, St. Kitts and Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda in 2022; Belize in 2016.

Others were repealed by through legislative action (Niue in 2024; Cook Islands in 2023; Singapore in 2022; Angola and Botswana in 2019; Seychelles and Nauru in 2016; Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Palau in 2014).

In Trinidad, a court in 2018 overturned the nation’s anti-gay law, but an appeals court reversed that decision in 2025.

Similar laws have been dropped in Hindu-majority Mauritius (2023), Buddhist-majority Bhutan (2021) and in Hindu-majority India (2018).

No Muslim-majority nation has repealed an anti-LGBT law recently. In fact, Muslim-majority Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger all enacted anti-LGBT laws in the past two years.

Explanations for that trend include:

• African nations’ unflagging resentment toward their former colonial masters in Europe, where LGBT rights are widely accepted, and

• Islam’s traditional hostility to homosexuality. As the Middle East Forum website stated last year:

“Homosexuality is a sin punishable by death, according to the Quran, hadith, and Islamic Law.

“Within many Islamic societies, such a stance on homosexuality is unequivocal: It is a major sin with no room for reinterpretation. … The Australian National Imams Council, representing over 200 imams in a country that prides itself on its liberalism, asserts that homosexuality is a forbidden action and anyone who partakes in it is a disobedient servant to God. Their view represents the rule rather than exception among Islamic scholars and institutions. …

“While some argue for a re-examination of Islamic teachings on same-sex relationships, suggesting that traditional interpretations may be misinformed or contextually outdated, these perspectives remain marginal within the broader Muslim community.”

Melanie Nathan Additional comment: Critical in this context: Ghana, which has a majority of Christians, has just passed one of the worst anti-LGBTI laws on the planet awaiting assent by President Mahama. It is one of worst because it explicitly criminalizes identity by making merely “holding out” as LGBTTQAP (yes the acronym given by parliament) an offense, This continues to be promoted by mostly Christian evangelicals – notable the recent conference held in Accra, Ghana. When it comes to any and all religions - surely it is time families in these criminalizing countries to love their children enough to question the religions that insists on harming them – by robbing them of freedom and subjecting them to violence. Lest we forget that Jewish Countries get a 100% report card for the non-criminalization of LGBTQI+ people and a strong measure of equality - Ah yes, there is only one Jewish majority State in the entire world - so that can be perceived as an easy accomplishment. Yet it is a hard fact.

We also cannot lose sight of a critical reality: persecution of LGBTQI+ people is not dependent on criminalization alone. Repealing a law does not magically erase prejudice, violence, exclusion, or fear. Across Africa, there are countries where criminal penalties have been removed, yet LGBTQI+ people continue to face hostility, rejection, assault, extortion, family violence, and social exclusion. In some cases, legal reform has even been followed by backlash.

As country conditions expert covering more than 20 African countries, it is my opinion that the vast majority of African states remain profoundly unsafe for LGBTQI+ people regardless of what is written in their constitutions, penal codes, or human rights instruments. Laws may change on paper, but deeply rooted societal taboos, political opportunism, religious hostility, and state indifference often endure. The result is that persecution frequently survives legal reform, while impunity remains the norm for those who commit acts of discrimination and violence.

Melanie Nathan provides independent country conditions reports, declarations, and expert witness testimony for asylum, withholding of removal, Convention Against Torture (CAT), Asylum Cooperative Agreement (ACA) and pretermission proceedings, and other immigration and human rights matters before U.S. Immigration Courts, USCIS, federal tribunals, and immigration courts and tribunals worldwide. Link.