Kazakhstan

Since the country gained independence from the former Soviet Union in 1998, its criminal code has not contained any provision outlawing consensual same-sex sexual acts between adults. Trans people can change their legal gender markers on the condition that they undergo invasive medical procedures, including sterilization. Non-consensual medical interventions on intersex children remain legal.

There is widespread and institutionalized prejudice against LGBTIQ people in the country. In 2015, 2018, 2021, and 2024, the parliament advanced bills that would have prohibited “gay propaganda,” but they have been struck down or amended each time. In 2024, a similar effort to advance anti-LGBTIQ lawmaking came in the form of a Union of Parents petition to the Ministry of Culture and Information. While the petition has not spurred new legislation, President Qasym-Jomart Toqayev and government ministries are on record condemning so-called LGBT ideology.

In 2019, the Kazakhstan Supreme Court upheld and protected the privacy rights of two women, holding a Facebook user accountable for posting a video of the two women kissing, without their authorization, in violation of privacy provisions in the Civil Code. The Supreme Court ruling overturned a lower court’s ruling that had dismissed the couple’s privacy rights on the basis that their intimate embrace violated the “moral foundations of society.” 

LGBTQ individuals in the country live in a climate of fear and widespread homophobia, forcing many of them into secrecy. They face threats of harassment, discrimination, and violence, coupled with state authorities’ failure to provide care and protection. LGBTIQ organizations and activists face many challenges, including arbitrary arrest. Some groups, such as Feminita, a national queer feminist initiative, have been denied legal status multiple times on spurious grounds.

*Outright research indicates that the bodily autonomy of intersex people is not respected and protected in this country.