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Same-sex sexual activity legal? Legal in 25 out of 35 states
Legal in all 20 territories Gender identity/expression Legal in 15 out of 35 states
Legal in 9 out of 20 territories Military service Allowed to serve openly in 16 out of 29 states that have an army
Legal in all 20 territories Discrimination protections Legal in 17 out of 35 states
Legal in 15 out of 20 territories Recognition of
relationships Legal in 10 out of 35 states
Legal in 10 out of 20 territories Restrictions: Same-sex marriage constitutionally banned in 7 out of 35 states | ||
Laws governing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights are complex in the Americas, and acceptance of LGBT persons varies widely. Same-sex marriages have been legal in Canada nationwide since 2005, in Argentina since 2010, in Brazil nationwide and Uruguay since 2013, in the United States nationwide since 2015 and in Colombia since 2016. In Mexico, same-sex marriages are performed in Mexico City and the states of Quintana Roo, Coahuila, Chihuahua, Nayarit, Jalisco, Guerrero, Campeche, Colima, and Michoacán; those unions are recognized nationwide. Same-sex marriages are also legal in the Caribbean Netherlands, while marriages performed in the Netherlands are recognized in Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten. More than 700 million people live in nations or sub-national entities in the Americas where same-sex marriages are available.
Furthermore, some other nations have laws recognizing other types of same-sex unions (Ecuador and Chile), as well as LGBT adoption and military service by LGBT people. However, ten other nations, all of them in the former British West Indies, still have criminal punishment for “buggery” on their statute books. These ten countries include Jamaica, Dominica, Barbados, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Lucia, Antigua & Barbuda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Saint Kitts and Nevis.
Religion and LGBT acceptance
The British, French, Spanish and Portuguese colonists, who settled most of the Americas, brought Christianity from Europe. In particular, the Roman Catholic Church and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, both of which oppose legal recognition of homosexual relationships followed by Eastern Orthodox church, the Methodist Church, and some other Mainline (Protestant) denominations, such as the Reformed Church in America and the American Baptist Church, as well as Conservative Evangelical organizations and churches, such as the Evangelical Alliance. The Southern Baptist Convention. Pentecostal churches such as the Assemblies of God, as well as Restorationist churches, like Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons, also take the position that homosexual sexual activity is sinful.
However, other denominations have become more accepting of LGBT people in recent decades, including the Episcopal Church in the United States, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, the Anglican Church of Canada, the United Church of Canada, the United Church of Christ, the Unitarian Universalist Association, and the Society of Friends (Quakers), and some congregations of the Presbyterian Church (U. S. A.). Most of these denominations now perform same-sex weddings or blessings. Furthermore, many churches in the United Methodist Church in the US are choosing to officiate and bless same-sex marriage despite denomination-wide restrictions. In addition, in the United States Conservative Judaism, Reform Judaism, and Reconstructionist Judaism now welcome LGBT worshippers and perform same-sex weddings.