Being Gay is Illegal in 69 Nations — Some of Them Plan to Host Major Sports Events
The attention focused on Qatar hosting the World Cup despite its stringent anti-LGBTQ+ laws might obscure equally troubling plans for other nations with homophobic laws to host major sporting events.
UK newspaper the Daily Mail recently published a rundown of the nearly 70 nations around the world that still have anti-gay laws on the books, from the approximately 30 African nations that criminalize gay sex (some of which impose the death penalty for same-sex love), to the seven Middle Eastern countries where Sharia law prescribes the killing of gay people, to the slowly improving situation for LGBTQ+ people in the Caribbean.
Though enforcement of anti-LGBTQ+ laws varies considerably — as do the punishments, which can include life sentences or even the death penalty — questions remain as to why such sporting authorities see fit to hand such nations global athletic contests.
LGBTQ+ athletic news outlet Outsports addressed the question, noting that "totalitarian governments that have the power to funnel millions or billions of dollars, and countless hours of labor, into providing venues and a seamless experience for athletes.... [are also] regimes that most strongly oppose homosexuality."
Profiling the way upcoming global sports events are due to be hosted by anti-gay nations, Outsports noted that the city of Cairo, in Eqypt — "where homosexuality is technically legal, but morality laws make gay sex problematic" — was recently the site the World Fencing Championships, with Cairo also slated to host the Sitting Volleyball World Cup next year.
Cameroon, where gays could face five years in prison for sexual intimacy, will preside over the 2024 African Athletics Championships, while Morocco, which also provides a five-year sentence for erotic contact between people of the same gender, is set to host next year's ISSF World Cup Shotgun Morocco, according to Outsports.
Also in 2023, Uzbekistan will host the AIBA Men's World Boxing Championships. Men in that country could face three years of prison time for having sex with other men, though sexual contact among women is not criminalized.
Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, will oversee next year's Wheelchair Basketball World Championships. Though enforcement in Dubai is reportedly "relaxed," according to Outsports, the laws on the books provide severe punishments for same-gender sexual activity, including the death penalty.
Further out on the calendar, Senegal will host the 4th Summer Youth Olympic Games. Gay sex is punishable by up to five years in prison in there.
Astonishingly, Qatar has a number of other major sporting events lined up after the World Cup, Outsports noted, including both the ISSF World Cup Shotgun Qatar and the World Judo Championships in 2023 and the FINA World Championships in 2024.
Gay sex can carry a penalty of up to 7 years in Qatar, according to Wikipedia, though the law there theoretically prescribes the death penalty for Muslims. Wikipedia also refers to "extra-judicial murders of LGBT people" in that country, which it says are "unverified."