Country Overview
Belize
At a glance
Same-sex Relations for Men Legal Throughout the Country?
Same-sex Relations for Women Legal Throughout the Country?
Legal Gender Recognition Possible?
LGBTI Orgs Able to Register?
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In 2016, Belize’s Supreme Court overturned the country’s colonial-era “buggery” law, Section 53 of the Belize Penal Code. Moreover, the court ruled that the Constitution protects people from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, based on an expansive interpretation of the constitutional grounds of “sex.” The Appeals Court upheld both rulings in 2019.
Belize’s Immigration Act classifies “any prostitute or homosexual” as “prohibited immigrants.” There are no procedures for legal gender recognition in Belize, making transgender people particularly vulnerable.
LGBTIQ organizations have reported that police, landlords, teachers, and other members of the public discriminate against Belizeans based on their perceived sexual orientation and gender identity. Evangelical churches have opposed efforts to advance the human rights of LGBTIQ people.
Despite these challenges, LGBTIQ activists have been celebrating Pride publicly every year since August 2017, a year after same-sex intimacy was decriminalized.
* Outright research indicates that the bodily autonomy of intersex people is not respected and protected in this country.
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