Montenegro

Montenegro’s 2010 Law on Prohibition of Discrimination includes sexual orientation and gender identity as prohibited grounds of discrimination in employment, education, health care, and the provision of goods and services in the public and private sectors. In July 2013, Montenegro amended the Criminal Code to impose harsher penalties for hate crimes committed due to the victim’s sexual orientation and/or gender identity. However, discrimination and violence against LGBTIQ people persist. 

LGBTIQ activists continue to express dissatisfaction with the government’s implementation of both of these laws. Neither law allows the aggrieved party to file a claim directly in court. The Office of the Ombudsman has not always been responsive, and the Office of the State Prosecutor has declined to prosecute many cases of alleged hate crimes.    In 2020, Montenegro adopted a law to legalize registered partnerships. These unions confer most of the same rights, benefits, and responsibilities as marriage, though they do not allow adoption. The constitution of Montenegro only permits marriage between a woman and a man.   Trans people can change their legal gender markers, but only after a diagnosis and gender-affirming surgery. Montenegro operates an ID system where one’s ID number also indicates that person’s gender. That number can be changed based on an amended birth certificate. As of 2024, legislation to remove the requirement of a diagnosis and surgery had been introduced but not adopted.   Montenegro ranks 112th out of 175 on the Global Acceptance Index.

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