Country Overview
El Salvador
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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Same-sex sexual activity is legal in El Salvador, but high levels of anti-LGBTIQ violence and discrimination in the country persist, attributed in part to the lack of legal anti-discrimination protections. Same-sex couples have no access to marriage or civil unions.
El Salvador lacks a legal gender recognition law that allows trans people to change their names and gender markers. In February 2022, in response to a 2016 lawsuit filed by a trans activist, the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice ordered that the current Name Law be reformed to allow individuals who do not identify with their assigned gender at birth to change their names to match their gender identity. To date, in spite of the court order and although activists have developed a draft gender identity law, the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador has taken no action to guarantee the change of name and gender in legal documents for transgender people.
The human rights situation for LGBTIQ people has further deteriorated during President Nayib Bukele's second administration. Despite initial promises to support LGBTIQ people’s rights, Bukele has adopted anti-gender stances that undermine equality. In February 2024, he announced plans to remove "all traces" of "gender ideologies" from educational institutions, and in June 2024, he dismissed 300 Ministry of Culture employees for promoting policies he deemed incompatible with "patriotic and family values."
Pride in El Salvador is the longest-running in Central America, as it has been organized every year since 1997.
*Outright research indicates that the bodily autonomy of intersex people is not respected and protected in this country.
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