Censorship of LGBTQ issues

Repealed laws

Australia (sub-national)

In December 1989 in the state of Western Australia, the Parliament of Western Australia passed the Law Reform (Decriminalisation of Sodomy) Act 1989 which decriminalised private gay sex while making it a crime for a person to "...promote or encourage homosexual behaviour as part of the teaching in any primary or secondary educational institutions..." or make public policy with respect to the undefined promotion of homosexual behaviour. It was repealed in 2002 via the Acts Amendment (Gay and Lesbian Law Reform) Act 2002, which also repealed the laws with respect to promotion of homosexual behaviour in public policy and in educational institutions.

Brazil (sub-national)

Since 2023, the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court (STF) has revoked several laws and law proposals against the use of gender-neutral language in schools, either municipally or state-wide. The Justices analyzed an Allegation of Non-Compliance with a Fundamental Precept filed by the National LGBTI Alliance and the Brazilian Association of Homotransaffective Families during a virtual plenary session. The organizations argue that the legislation violates the fundamental rights to freedom of speech, as well as the freedom to learn and professorship, and the ban entails censorship of teachers, affecting the dignity of non-binary people — those who do not identify exclusively as male or female — by prohibiting them from using the language in which they feel most comfortable. The institutions recall Supreme Court decisions that recognized the rights of the LGBTI+ population.

On 5 May 2016, the state of Alagoas enacted a law establishing the Escola Livre program (lit. 'Free School'), which prohibits "ideological and political indoctrination" in the state's schools. On 21 March 2017, Supreme Court Justice Luís Roberto Barroso suspended the law through a preliminary injunction.

On October 2017, councilman Dr. Brito (PEN) proposed two draft bills to institute the Escola sem Partido program in schools in Foz do Iguaçu. Amid the approval of one of these bills, teachers and LGBTQ rights activists protested against it. On 5 July 2018, Justice Dias Toffoli issued an injunction suspending the law, after a lawsuit filed by the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB). On 8 May 2020, the Supreme Federal Court voted unanimously to overturn the city law.

On 13 September 2018, the Londrina City Council approved a law prohibiting the teaching of gender issues in schools. On 13 December 2019, Justice Luís Roberto Barroso issued an injunction overturning the municipal law.

On 17 October 2024, the Legislative Assembly of Amazonas enacted a law prohibiting "the reproduction of digital media that uses children linked to homosexuality." The law was proposed by the state deputy Carlinhos Bessa (PV-AM) and approved with 21 votes in favor, none against, and 3 abstentions.

On 13 December 2025, the law was amended through bill 816/2024, also proposed by Carlinhos Bessa, removing the term "homosexuality". Since then, current law prohibits "the reproduction of sexual content linked to children in cultural and artistic media."

Cuba

Following the 1959 Cuban Revolution, the government implemented policies that censored and suppressed LGBTQ expression, particularly during the 1960s and 1970s. In 1965, the regime established Military Units to Aid Production (UMAPs), where individuals deemed "anti-social," including homosexuals, were subjected to forced labor aimed at "rehabilitation." These camps operated until 1968 and were part of broader efforts to enforce heteronormative standards.

During the "Grey Years" (1971–1976), a period marked by cultural repression, the Cuban government intensified its censorship of LGBTQ content. Artists and intellectuals suspected of homosexuality faced blacklisting, and works featuring LGBTQ themes were banned or heavily censored. This era significantly curtailed the visibility and rights of LGBTQ individuals in Cuban society.

Legal reforms began to emerge in the late 20th century. In 1979, Cuba decriminalized consensual same-sex sexual activity between adults. However, public displays of homosexuality remained punishable under laws against "public scandal" until 1997, when such provisions were removed, signaling a shift toward greater acceptance.

Lithuania

On 16 June 2009, the Seimas (Lithuanian Parliament) approved an amendment to the Law on the Protection of Minors against the Detrimental Effects of Public Information (Lithuanian: Nepilnamečių apsaugos nuo neigiamo viešosios informacijos poveikio įstatymas), which would have effectively banned the "promotion of homosexual relations". The amendment was scheduled to go into effect on 1 March 2010. It was vetoed by the President citing "lack of definitions", but the veto was overturned by the Parliament. The wording of the law forbade the "propaganda of homosexual, bisexual or polygamous relations". According to some politicians who voted in favor, the possibility of defining "propaganda" should be left to lawyers.

On 17 September 2009, the European Parliament passed a resolution condemning the law and requesting the EU Fundamental Rights Agency issue a legal opinion on it. On 10 November 2009, the Seimas responded by adopting a resolution requesting the Government to seek the invalidation of the European Parliament resolution, which it condemned as an unlawful act. The EU Fundamental Rights Agency wrote to the European Parliament that it was not going to submit the requested legal opinion, given that it had no mandate to evaluate the legislation of member states.

Newly elected President Dalia Grybauskaitė expressed her strong disapproval of the law and formed a commission to elaborate a draft to repeal the discriminatory provisions. On 22 December 2009, the clauses banning the promotion among minors of "homosexual, bisexual, and polygamous relations" were eliminated, but as a compromise, the paragraph was replaced by a "ban to spread information that would promote sexual relations or other conceptions of concluding a marriage or creating a family other than established in the Constitution or the Civil Code". It has been argued that this provision is the first step towards instituting a ban on criticizing the Government and its decisions and is thus a menace to democracy in the country. Proponents of the law claimed to be led by a desire to protect traditional family and children. Some of them have expressed an opinion that the law would ban any information in public about homosexuality, regardless of its accessibility to minors or ban any public discussions and LGBT-related events. (So we propose to establish a limit that the promotion in public places is not possible to protect the mentioned three articles of the Constitution, but without doubt in some interior premises those people have the right to organize events, to promote, to discuss) The new version was signed by the President, satisfied that "the homophobic provisions [had] been repealed".

Significantly, the same law forbade mocking and bullying on the grounds of sexual orientation. It also possessed a number of other amendments, such as prohibiting the promotion of unhealthy nutrition to minors, information that "profanes family values", and the depiction of hypnosis.

The amendment was sometimes compared to Section 28, the act which prohibited discussion of homosexuality in British schools.

During its existence, there were several attempts to apply the anti-LGBTQ provisions of the law. It was unsuccessfully cited to ban the Gay Pride parade in 2010, and in 2013, and successfully referenced to declare one advertisement related to the Vilnius Gay Pride 2013 as appropriate to be broadcast at night time only and with the adult content logo. The reason given by the Board of Experts of Journalism Ethics Inspector Service was that one person in the advertisement had a T-shirt with an inscription in Lithuanian "For the diversity of families". In their opinion, it encouraged a different conception of family and marriage than established in Lithuanian laws.

In 2014, based on similar grounds, the same institution recommended restricting the distribution of a children's book of tales titled "Gintarinė širdis" ("Amber Heart") published by the Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences, because two stories in it were related to same-sex relationships. The Board ordered the book to be labelled "Not suitable for children under 14 years" and referring to this recommendation, the Ministry of Culture banned the book altogether. The case have been escalated to the European Court of Human Rights in November 2019, and was heard by the Grand Chamber on 23 March 2022. In January 2023, the Court ruled that the government's actions were in violation of article 10, the right to freedom of expression, of the treaty.

In 2014, a video clip of a gay rights organisation promoting tolerance towards LGBT people was refused to air by all major Lithuanian TV stations despite not having any overt sexuality-related content, fearing a potential breach of the Law on the Protection of Minors. The breach was later unanimously confirmed by the Board of Experts of Journalism Ethics Inspector Service.

On 18 December 2024, the Constitutional Court of Lithuania declared the anti-LGBT provisions of the Law of the Protection of Minors a violation of Article 25 of the Constitution of Lithuania, which guarantees freedom of speech, and Article 38 of the Constitution, which defines family as "the foundation of society and the state" and that the state protects and cares for the family, motherhood, fatherhood, and childhood. According to the Constitutional Court, the Seimas did not clearly define in the disputed provisions of the law what information disparages family values and promotes a different concept of marriage and family formation than that enshrined in the Constitution and the Civil Code, and therefore must be classified as information that has a negative impact on minors, and thus "created the premises for narrowing the content of the family as a constitutional institution".

Romania

"Article 200" (Articolul 200 in Romanian) was a section of the Penal Code of Romania that criminalised homosexual relationships. It was introduced in 1968 under the communist regime of Nicolae Ceauşescu. Under pressure from the Council of Europe, it was amended on 14 November 1996, when homosexual sex in private between two consenting adults was decriminalised. However, the amended Article 200 continued to criminalise same-sex relationships if they were displayed publicly or caused a "public scandal". It also continued to ban the promotion of homosexual activities, as well as the formation of gay-centred organisations (including LGBT rights organisations). It was repealed by the Năstase government on 22 June 2001.

In June 2023, the Romanian Senate approved the draft law prohibiting spreading a theory that gender is different from biological sex and that there are more than two genders, but the President of Romania appealed to the Constitutional Court to review the draft law.

South Korea

In 2001, South Korea's Ministry of Information and Communication's Information and Communications Ethics Committee began censoring online LGBT content, but it stopped the practice in 2003.

United Kingdom

"Section 28" or "Clause 28" of the Local Government Act 1988 caused the addition of "Section 2A" to the Local Government Act 1986, which affected England, Wales and Scotland. The amendment was enacted on 24 May 1988, and stated that a local authority "shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality" or "promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship".

The law's existence caused many groups to close or limit their activities or self-censor. For example, a number of lesbian, gay and bisexual student support groups in schools and colleges across Britain were closed owing to fears by council legal staff that they could breach the act.

It was repealed on 21 June 2000 in Scotland by the Ethical Standards in Public Life etc. (Scotland) Act 2000, one of the first pieces of legislation enacted by the new Scottish Parliament, and on 18 November 2003 in the rest of the United Kingdom by section 122 of the Local Government Act 2003.

United States

States that have repealed their anti-LGBT curriculum laws include Alabama (since 29 April 2021), Arizona (since 1 July 2019), North Carolina (since 2006), South Carolina (since 12 March 2020) and Utah (since 1 July 2017).

Rejected proposals

Armenia

In August 2013, Armenian police briefly introduced a bill which would have banned "public promotion of non-traditional sexual relationships". According to Armenian police, "preserving the traditional Armenian family represents the pillar of national survival". The bill was removed from consideration after several days.

Brazil (sub-national)

On 13 November 2024, in Acre, the Rio Branco City Council approved Bill No. 14/2024, which aimed to prohibit the participation of children and adolescents in LGBTQ pride parades in the city. The bill was proposed by councilman João Marcos Luz, of the Liberal Party, and was approved with 10 votes in favor and 1 vote against. The bill was criticized by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office, which accused it of perpetuating stereotypes about homosexual people.

The bill was vetoed by the then mayor of Rio Branco, Tião Bocalom, claiming that the bill was unconstitutional.

Moldova (national)

On 23 May 2013, the Parliament of Moldova passed a bill which bans the propaganda of prostitution, paedophilia and "any other relations than those related to marriage and family in accordance with the Constitution and the Family Code". The bill also includes fines. The bill was signed into law on 5 July 2013 and came into effect on 12 July 2013. The law did not explicitly prohibit the "propaganda" of homosexuality, but it could have been interpreted as such by judges. On 11 October 2013, the Parliament passed a bill intended to remove the content which could have been interpreted as a ban on "homosexual propaganda".

In April 2016, lawmakers introduced a similar bill, which was approved in committee in May 2016. The bill would amend the Law on the Rights of the Child and the Code of Administrative Offenses and ban spreading "homosexual propaganda" to minors "through public meetings, the media, the Internet," and other means. The second draft law of 24 March 2017 envisaged amending the Law on Protection of Children from the Negative Impact of Information with a view to censor public dissemination of information about non-heterosexual relations/persons. The parliament refused to adopt the amendments in both cases.

Ukraine

A draft law that would make it illegal to talk about homosexuality in public and in the media and to import, distribute, and broadcast video, photo, and audio products that "encourages homosexuality" (with penalties of up to five years in prison and fines for up to ₴5,000 (US$616)) was passed in first reading in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) on 2 October 2012. An estimated 20 community activists representing several organizations protested outside of the Verkhovna Rada building during the vote. On 4 October 2012, a second vote was tentatively scheduled for 16 October. In January 2015, the bill was removed from the agenda.

A petition was subsequently started by anti-gay groups, calling for "measures to be taken to stop the propaganda of homosexuality and for defending family values". In March 2018, Ukraine's Anti-Discrimination Ombudsperson removed the petition from the electronic petitions section. By then, the petition had received 23,000 signatures and support from various religious organisations. The Ombudsman described the petition as "anti-freedom", and deleted it due to "containing calls to restrict human rights".

Haiti

In August 2017, a bill to jail same-sex couples who get married for three years, with a fine of $8,000, passed the Haitian Senate, but never became law. In 2017, the Senate voted to ban "any public demonstration of support for homosexuality and proselytizing in favour of such acts". The fate of this bill remains unknown.