State-sponsored homophobia

Same-sex marriage has finally been granted legal protection in the U.S., but according to a just-released report by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, there are still 72 United Nation member states that criminalize same-sex “consensual activity.” The 2017 edition of the State-Sponsored Homophobia report further explains that, in 45 of those states, the criminalization applies to women as well as men, and that in eight of them (Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Sudan, as well as parts of Somalia, Nigeria, Iraq and Syria), the death penalty may be applied to same-sex individuals who engage in sexual acts.