Country Overview
Austria
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 has been legal since 1971, and the age of consent was equalized in 2002. Austria legalized same-sex marriage in 2019 following a Constitutional Court ruling. Full joint adoption by same-sex couples has been allowed since 2016 after a Constitutional Court decision.
Austria’s Equal Treatment Act prohibits employment discrimination due to gender, age, ethnicity, religion, or views, or sexual orientation. Some jurists have interpreted the prohibition of discrimination based on gender and/or gender reassignment to encompass gender identity and sex characteristics, and some local jurisdictions explicitly prohibit discrimination based on gender identity in some sectors.
It is possible to legally change one’s legal name and gender without undergoing medical procedures. However, changing one’s gender identity marker requires an expert opinion indicating “an irreversible feeling of belonging to the other sex and a clear approximation to the external appearance of the other sex.” It is possible to have an X gender marker on a passport. Surgery on intersex infants is illegal. It is also possible to have an “indeterminate” or no gender marker on a birth certificate, which will be determined later, when the child is born with variations in sex characteristics.
According to the Global Acceptance Index, Austria ranks 25 out of 175 countries in terms of social acceptance of LGBTI persons.
*Outright research indicates that the bodily autonomy of intersex people is not respected and protected in this country.
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