In 2023, Brazil was the country with the largest share of LGBT+ population at 15 percent. Spain and Switzerland followed next, with 14 and 13 percent of their population identifying as LGBT+, respectively.

In a global survey conducted in 2023, three percent of respondents declared to be homosexual, gay, or lesbian. In Brazil and the Netherlands, for instance, nine percent, instead, identified as bisexual, representing the largest group of bisexual respondents among the 30 surveyed countries. Moreover, two percent of the interviewees in Switzerland said to be pansexual or omnisexual. Pansexuality describes people who feel attracted to other people regardless of their biological sex, gender, or gender identity, whereas omnisexuality refers to people attracted to people of all gender identities and sexual orientations.

In 2021, around ** percent of individuals living in the District of Columbia identified as LGBT. Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon also had high rates, exceeding *** percent. Mississippi and North Dakota had the lowest rates of LGBT populations, the only states with less than **** percent.

Sexual identity estimates by occupation 2014. This is presented at a UK level, and broken down by England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Over the 2015-2018 period, nearly ******* people aged over ** defined themselves as something other than heterosexual in Canada: ******* identified as lesbian or gay, while ******* identified as bisexual. The provinces with the largest number of non-heterosexuals people were Ontario and Quebec, which are also the most populous provinces in the country. In addition, with the exception of Quebec, bisexual people outnumbered lesbian or gay people in all provinces.

Malta was rated the safest travel destination for members of the LGBT community, according to a 2023 ranking. With 13 points, the European country outperformed Canada and Switzerland - the following safest countries in the list. Out of the 12 best-performing countries that year, eight are located in Europe.

LGBT rights in Canada

Back in 2005, Canada was the fourth country worldwide to legalize same-sex marriage. The North American nation is in the vanguard of LGBT rights and has passed multiple laws assuring equality for this group, such as allowing adoption by same-sex couples, protecting transgender rights, and banning conversion therapy. Meanwhile, its land neighbor, the United States, had the share of the population that identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender increased steadily between 2012 and 2021.

Acceptance around the globe

According to a survey conducted in 2021 in 27 countries, opinions on the rights of same-sex couples varied greatly around the world. Western European and American nations were particularly supportive of marriage or, failing that, some form of legal recognition for homosexual couples.

Réunion was rated the safest travel destination in Africa for members of the LGBT community, according to a 2024 ranking. With eight points, the French overseas department outperformed South Africa, ranking 21st worldwide, while the Southern African country stood in the 38th position. These were the only destinations considered friendly for LGBT tourists in Africa. A country scores less than zero in the index when human rights are not observed, nor guaranteed, or even violated. This means that Angola, Botswana, Cabo Verde, Mozambique, Lesotho, Niger, Seychelles, and Mauritius were far from being considered safe, but were better-rated destinations compared to other countries in the continent.

Abstract Violence against LGBT people has always been present in our society. Brazil is the country with the highest number of lethal crimes against LGBT people in the world. The aim of this study was to describe the characteristics of homicides of LGBT people in Brazil using spatial analysis. The LGBT homicide rate was used to facilitate the visualization of the geographical distribution of homicides. Public thoroughfares and the victim’s home were the most common places of occurrence. The most commonly used methods for killing male homosexuals and transgender people were cold weapons and firearms, respectively; however, homicides frequently involved beatings, suffocation, and other cruelties. The large majority of victims were aged between 20 and 49 years and typically white or brown. The North, Northeast and Central-West regions, precisely the regions with the lowest HDI, presented LGBT homicide rates above the national rate. LGBT homicides are typically hate crimes and constitute a serious public health problem because they affect young people, particularly transgender people. This problem needs to be addressed by the government, starting with the criminalization of homophobia and the subsequent formulation of public policies to reduce hate crimes and promote respect for diversity.

Ecuador scored one point on the 2020 Gay Travel Index, placing it far from the safest countries for LGBT tourism, which accumulated up to 12 points. The Latin American nation is however also a great distance away from the most dangerous regions for LGBT tourists, whose scores go as low as -20. Ecuador was one of the few Latin American countries to receive the high score of three points for anti-discrimination legislation. The Gay Travel Index found five categories of concern in the nation including religious influence and HIV travel restrictions. In 2019, there were 47 thousand people among the Ecuadorian population living with HIV, up one thousand from the year prior.

As of April 2024, 55 percent of the LGBT population lived in the 50 states and the District of Columbia where private health insurance service providers weren't allowed to deny coverage for transgender-related health care services, such as sex reassignment surgery. However, only 40 percent lived in states where health insurance protections included sexual orientation and gender identity.

LGBT Americans The share of Americans self-identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender has grown in recent years. This suggests that insurance protections which cover LGBT-related health care services will also continue to grow in importance. The prevalence of younger Americans self-identifying as LGBT when compared with older generations confirms this. Millennials and Gen Xers are much more likely to personally identify as LGBT than previous generations were. Growing acceptance and tolerance in wider society means that more people are willing to be open about their gender identity and sexual orientation. For instance, support for same-sex marriage in the U.S. underwent a huge shift over the past two decades with the majority of Americans being in favor of it since 2011.

Protective antibodies play a critical role in an effective HIV vaccine; however, eliciting antibodies to block infection by viruses from diverse genetic subtypes remains a major challenge. As the world’s most populous country, China has been under the threat of at least three major subtypes of circulating HIV-1 viruses. Understanding the cross reactivity and specificities of serum antibody responses that mediate broad neutralization of the virus in HIV-1 infected Chinese patients will provide valuable information for the design of vaccines to prevent HIV-1 transmission in China. Sera from a cohort of homosexual men, who have been managed by a major HIV clinical center in Beijing, China, were analyzed for cross-sectional neutralizing activities against pseudotyped viruses expressing Env antigens of the major subtype viruses (AE, BC and B subtypes) circulating in China. Neutralizing activities in infected patients’ blood were most capable of neutralizing viruses in the homologous subtype; however, a subset of blood samples was able to achieve broad neutralizing activities across different subtypes. Such cross neutralizing activity took 1–2 years to develop and CD4 binding site antibodies were critical components in these blood samples. Our study confirmed the presence of broadly neutralizing sera in China’s HIV-1 patient population. Understanding the specificity and breadth of these neutralizing activities can guide efforts for the development of HIV vaccines against major HIV-1 viruses in China.

According to a global survey conducted in 2021, three in 10 respondents had at least once spoken out against someone who was being prejudiced against LGBT+ people. In addition, some 13 percent attended a public event in support of LGBT+ people, e.g. a Pride march.

Chile received a 2024 Gay Travel Index score of nine points. This puts the nation on the upper middle end of the index, where the safest countries for LGBT+ tourism scored 12 points and the least safe countries had a total as low as 2-. Chile received its most points for transgender rights. The Latin American country was deducted one point in two categories each: religious influence and murder. In 2020, over half of the Chilean population claimed to be of catholic faith, making this religion the most common in the nation.

Spain was ranked fourth out of 49 European countries in the annual Rainbow Europe rankings in 2024, with the country achieving an overall score of 76.41 percent for its legal, political, and human rights provisions. The country performed relatively well on most indicators, having particularly strong protections for LGBTI civil society, family rights, equality & non-discrimination provisions, and laws which ensure the gender recognition rights of transgender citizens and residents. Spain performs less well on intersex bodily integrity laws, although it must be noted that relative to most European countries the score of 50 percent is still high.

In 2023, approximately 91.2 percent of the population of London identified as being Heterosexual or Straight, which was the lowest among regions of the United Kingdom. As of this year, approximately 3.5 percent of Londoners identified as being Gay or Lesbian, 1.7 percent as Bisexual, 0.9 percent as Other and 2.8 percent who did not know, or refused to answer.

The Russian Federation was ranked last European country in Rainbow Europe's annual LGBTI rights rankings for 2024, with an overall score of 2 percent. Russia does not perform well on any indicator, with family rights being the only category in which the country was awarded a positive score. The government of Russia led by President Vladimir Putin has become infamous in recent years for their homophobic stances, such as with laws brought in that target "LGBTQ propaganda", meaning that it is a crime to educate young people about homosexuality. These laws have led to a clamp-down on LGBTQ civil society in Russia, along with gay and queer activists in the country.

In a survey conducted in February 2023, approximately 67 percent of heterosexual respondents reported being legally married. At the same time, 36 percent of homosexual and bisexual respondents were in a registered marriage.  The history of LGBTQ+ in Japan  Japan has a rich queer history. Homosexual relationships in historic Japan were for most parts of a strictly hierarchical, pederastic nature and limited to the all-male realms of monasteries and the samurai class. With the growing influence and wealth of common people in 17th century Japan, the depiction and practice of homosexuality and gender fluidity became a widely popular topic in urban culture. This changed with the arrival of Western ideology. Queerness was portrayed as either pathological or caricatural until well into the second half of the 20th century. Nowadays, Japan’s stance on LGBTQ+ rights is fairly progressive compared to other Asian regions. Due to better access to information and education on the topic, familiarity with the term LGBTQ+ and its meaning is relatively high among the Japanese population. Yet, Japan is still a far cry away from an equal society, with many LGBTQ+ individuals concerned about coming out.  Legalization of same-sex marriage in Japan Japan is the only G7 nation not fully recognizing same-sex marriages. However, a court ruling in March 2021 declared it unconstitutional to bar same-sex couples from getting legally married. While it will certainly take time until an apt law to allow same-sex marriage will be passed, having the perspective to gain equal legal rights to heterosexual couples is a major symbolic victory for the LGBTQ+ community in socially conservative Japan. In past years, some municipalities started to issue partnership certificates, but their benefits are limited, not allowing individuals to inherit their partner’s assets or granting parental rights over their children. In light of the postponed Olympic Games in Tokyo, human rights organizations and LGBTQ+ activists are pushing for an Equality Act. This comes at a similar time as the ongoing gender equality discussion, which was sparked by former Tokyo Olympics President Yoshiro Mori’s sexist remark on female participation in meetings, leading to an international media outcry on the status of women in Japanese society.

Same-sex marriage was legalized in Ecuador in 2019. Since then, 1,712 same-sex weddings have taken place. In 2023, only 342 of the 56,546 marriages registered in the country were between people of the same sex.

As of 2024, same-sex marriage in Latin America is still considered illegal or not recognized in the majority of countries. Nonetheless, since 2010 many countries legalized these types of unions. Among those, Brazil ranked at the top of the list with over 11,000 same-sex marriages in 2022, followed by Mexico and Chile with 5,829 and 2,254 marriages, respectively. LGBTQ+ in Brazil Brazil is not only the leader of the ranking with the most same-sex marriages in Latin America, it was also one of the first countries to make it legal. Since May 2013, the number of same-sex marriages has only increased, almost duplicating from 2015 to 2022. And the forecast is positive for the next generations, as a 2024 survey shows, the Brazilian population from 16 to 44 years of age has an overwhelmingly positive perception of same-sex marriages. A difficult start for Mexico A recent survey in Mexico shows that around five percent of the total population self-identifies as part of the LGBTQ+ community. Nonetheless, the country has failed to provide equal footing for the community. In early 2010, Mexico City was the first federal entity to legalize same-sex marriages, but it was not until the last day of 2022 that all states allowed this type of union. The support for the LGBTQ+ community keeps growing in the Aztec country, as the engagement in supporting activities is also becoming more widespread.

Acceptance of homosexuality in Nigeria is very low. In 2019, only seven percent of respondents in the country declared that homosexuality should be accepted by the society. Nevertheless, this was an increase by *** percentage points compared to 2013. Homosexuality in Nigeria is criminalized - the death penalty is imposed or at least a possibility for same-sex sexual activity.