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Same-sex sexual activity legal? Illegal: Islamic Sharia Law is applied
(Libya) Penalty: Up to four years imprisonment
(Libya) | ||
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Libya face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents.
Contents
Criminal laws
The country's criminal code prohibits all sexual activity outside of a lawful marriage. Private homosexual acts between consenting adults are illegal.
In the 1990s, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi began to enact "purification" laws designed to enforce a harsh view of Islamic law on the population. Libyan courts were given the power to use amputation, flogging and other cruel punishments against persons found to be violating traditional Islamic morality.
In 2010, the Gay Middle East blog, reported that two adult men had been charged with "indecent acts", which meant cross-dressing and homosexual conduct.
Female homosexuality would also appear to be illegal, as is making any sort of public acknowledgment that a person is gay. In 2010 a French asylum case involved a Libyan girl who sought asylum after being jailed, raped and then returned to her family for a forced marriage after she made a public statement online that she was gay.
Summary conditions
The government does not permit the public advocacy of LGBT rights. When they are discussed, it is always in a negative manner, in keeping with traditional Islamic morality.
In 2003, Gaddafi stated that he believed that it was "impossible" to contract AIDS–HIV through unprotected, heterosexual vaginal sex.
In February 2012 a Libyan delegate sparked outrage after telling a United Nations human rights panel that gay people threaten the future of the human race.