Report
“LGBT Propaganda” and “Promotion” Laws
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Author(s)
Outright Team
Publish Date
September 30, 2026
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This policy brief explains what “LGBT propaganda” and “promotion” laws are, where they exist, how they are applied, and whom they affect, and why they violate international human rights law. It also sets out what states must do to repeal them and how activists have challenged these laws in court and sustained their work under them.
Key Points
- “LGBT propaganda” and “promotion” laws restrict neutral or positive information, expression, advocacy, services, and public recognition related to sexual orientation and gender diversity. Governments generally justify these laws as protecting children, defending “traditional values,” preserving public morality, or discouraging conduct already criminalized under domestic law, such as same-sex conduct.
- These laws are instruments of state discrimination that enforce invisibility and stigma against lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ) people and their families.
- “Propaganda” and “promotion” laws restrict freedom of expression, assembly, and association, leading to the closure or deregistration of civil society organizations, censorship and self-censorship in media and education, and the suppression of public health information.
- International human rights standards prohibit these laws. Courts, treaty bodies, and UN mechanisms have consistently found them to violate fundamental rights.
- States must repeal “propaganda” and “promotion” laws and ensure that human rights defenders, health workers, journalists, educators, LGBTIQ people, and allies can exercise their rights without fear of punishment.
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