LGBT rights in Gibraltar

Same-sex sexual activity and age of consent

In Gibraltar, the age of consent for all sexual activity regardless of sexuality and/or gender was equalised at 16 in April 2011, when under Supreme Court order the previous law – under which the age of consent for gay males was 18 – was found to be unconstitutional. Heterosexual anal sex was decriminalised at the same time and the age of consent set at 16. Gay male sexual conduct was decriminalised in 1993.

Political campaigning prior to the 2007 Election was prominent with equality rights organisation Gib Gay Rights (GGR), headed by human rights campaigner Felix Alvarez openly challenging the incumbent Chief Minister, Peter Caruana for more rights in Gibraltar for gay and lesbian people, and others who are discriminated against.

Campaigning on the issue of an equal age of consent of 16 had been strongly undertaken.

The issues were raised at the Foreign Affairs Committee enquiry into the overseas territories in 2008, where they concluded:

On 18 May 2009, the Gibraltar Parliament approved by Government majority leave for a Private member's bill, proposed by the Minister for Justice, to equalise the age of consent. This was opposed by the GSLP/Liberal opposition for technical reasons due to the way the Bill was written. The Government gave its Members of Parliament a free vote on the Bill. It was defeated, as the Government members were split on its approval, and the opposition members all voted against it.

The influential Gibraltar Women's Association (GWA) has called for the age consent to be levelled at 18.

On 1 October 2009, new proposed legislation would enable the Government of Gibraltar to ask the Supreme Court to test whether existing or draft laws are compatible with the Constitution. This would provide a simplified, purpose-built mechanism to deal with contentious issues such as the age of consent.

In March 2010, the Government of Gibraltar was seeking an opinion from Court of the age of consent legal issue to see if the law is discrimination under the principles of the European Council.

On 1 April 2010, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs David Miliband pointed out that if a British overseas territory is unwilling to meet 'international obligations' such as equalising the age of consent it may be imposed by an Order in Council.

On 8 April 2011, the Supreme Court of Gibraltar ruled that a higher age of consent of 18 for all gay sex was deemed unconstitutional, and thus mandated an equal age of consent of 16. Also at the same time decriminalised heterosexual anal sex and set the age of consent at 16 for that as well.

In August 2011, the gender-neutral Crimes Act 2011 was approved, which sets an equal age of consent of 16 regardless of sexual orientation, and reflects the recent Supreme Court decision in statute or law. The law took effect on 23 November 2012.

Adoption and assisted reproduction

On 10 April 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that section 5 (2) of the Adoption Act was in violation of the Gibraltar Constitution thus in effect, de jure legalising LGBT adoption in Gibraltar. The Government has announced that they plan to amend the law as soon as possible and the Care Agency will take appropriate measures to allow gay couples to adopt. The government did so the following year as part of its civil partnership law (see below).

Additionally, lesbian couples can get access to artificial insemination.

Civil partnership

In March 2014, the Parliament passed a civil partnership, granting same-sex couples most of the rights of marriage, including allowing the adoption of children by civil partners, as mandated by the court ruling in 2013.

Same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriage became an issue of interest for the government after their re-election in 2015. A Command Paper to that effect was published in December 2015 and a public consultation was held, whilst talk of a possible referendum on the issue was not ruled out. The leader of the opposition Social Democrats Party announced his support for same-sex marriage in January 2016 days before the government ruled out a referendum. An inter-ministerial committee was set up in March 2016 to listen to stakeholder concerns and more than 3,400 responses to the discussion were received. The government published a bill to legalise same-sex marriage in August 2016.

On 26 October 2016, the Marriage Bill was passed in the Gibraltar Parliament with unanimous support from all 15 members present during the vote. The bill received Royal Assent on 1 November and took effect on 15 December 2016. The first legally recognized same-sex marriage in Gibraltar took place the next day.

Discrimination protections

The 2006 Constitution does not mention sexual orientation. The proposals, made public early March 2002, specifically omitted direct reference to "sexual orientation" as a category to be constitutionally protected. Other categories are clearly included.

The Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party government elected in 2011, has announced plans to include sexual orientation under the goods and services anti-discrimination section (sexual orientation is already covered in anti-discrimination law under employment since 2005). The party renewed this commitment in their manifesto for the 2015 election, in which they were re-elected.

Hate crime legislation

The bill to amend the Crimes Act 2011, that will criminalise both hatred and harassment on the ground of sexual orientation as a hate crime, was approved by the Gibraltar Parliament on 19 September 2013 and given Royal Assent on 25 September. The law took effect on 10 October 2013.