Last updated: 18 January 2004
Countries in Asia with anti-homosexual laws

(Here, Asia is defined as the arc from Pakistan to Japan)

 

Country Any laws criminalising homosexual acts?
Bangladesh Yes
Bhutan Yes
Brunei Yes
Burma (Myanmar) Yes
Cambodia No
China No
Hong Kong No
India Yes
Indonesia No
Japan No
Korea, North Uncertain
Korea, South No
Laos No
Macao No
Malaysia Yes
Maldives Yes
Mongolia No
Nepal Yes
Pakistan Yes
Philippines No
Singapore Yes
Sri Lanka Yes
Taiwan No
Thailand No
Timor Leste No
Vietnam No

 

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Countries shown in red have laws criminalising homosexual acts

 

 

All the countries in Asia which criminalise homosexuality were once British colonies or protectorates. Their anti-homosexual laws can be traced to the Indian Penal Code of British India, 1860.

This legal code was in turn based on English laws of the Victorian period, which descended from the Christian Church's Canon Law of the Middle Ages.

Countries that were colonised by other European powers, such as France (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos), Netherlands (Indonesia), Spain (Philippines) or Portugal (Timor Leste) did not inherit anti-homosexual laws.

Nor do countries that were never colonised by European powers, such as China, Japan and Thailand.

This clearly shows that anti-homosexual laws are an import from Victorian England. The argument that they embody traditional Asian values is contradicted.

For more information about the history of such laws in Singapore, see the article in Yawning Bread, The map's tale.

 

 
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