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1973 in LGBT Rights

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In 1973, there were 18 recorded legal changes made affecting LGBT people. In the previous year, there were 26 changes made and 21 in the following year. A total of 252 legal changes were made in the 1970s.

  • November 25
    Right to change legal gender becomes legal, but requires surgery.
    Gender reassignment surgeries are legal in Singapore, and in 1973 the government allowed patients to change their identity cards. This change implicitly recognized marriages that included an individual that had undergone surgery. In 1996, Member of Parliament (MP) Abdullah Tarmugi made an announcement that individuals who have undergone surgery could marry someone of the opposite sex.
  • November 11
    Right to change legal gender becomes legal, but requires surgery.
    In 1973, Vivian Rubianti became the first person in Indonesia to have their legal gender recognised after surgery. A court ruling in Indonesia in December 2009 stipulated that Indonesians who have undergone gender re-assignment surgery must be allowed to change their gender on identity documents.
  • September 11
    Censorship of LGBT issues becomes state-enforced.
    Under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, LGBTIQ+ people in Chile faced brutal persecution and all remnants of advocacy were violently suppressed by the regime.
  • June 27
    Censorship of LGBT issues becomes state-enforced.
    During the 1973-1985 civic-military dictatorship era in Uruguay, LGBTIQ+ people were frequently targeted, especially transgender people, frequently torturing them for their gender identity or sexual orientation.
  • June 11
    Censorship of LGBT issues becomes fine as punishment.
    In 1973, Buenos Aires Province prohibited people from "dressing and pretending to be a person of the opposite sex in daily life" with a fine being issued to offenders. This law was used to criminalise trans people in practice.
  • April 10
    Same-sex marriage becomes banned.
    Sub. §2.1. of Title 9 of the Domestic Relations Law defines marriage as “a civil contract between a male and female”.
  • April 1
    Equal age of consent becomes equal.
    In 1973, Delaware legalized homosexuality with an equal age of consent to heterosexuality.
  • Homosexual activity becomes legal.
    Legislative repeal, effective 1973.
  • March 10
    Censorship of LGBT issues becomes state-enforced.
    In 1973, the South Korean government passed the Minor Offences Act which criminalised men from growing their hair long. Although there is no known information, it is likely that this law was also used to target transgender women especially since the law explicitly stated that men couldn’t grow their hair at a length that makes it difficult to tell if they’re a man or woman. This policy was abolished in 1982.
  • March
    Gender-affirming care becomes restricted.
    In 1973, Chile legalized sterilization, which de facto meant legalizing sex reassignment surgery. In March, the first surgery was performed although no one knew about it until the next year.
  • January 29
    Homosexual activity becomes legal.
    In 1973, homosexual acts were made legal by the government
  • January 1
    Equal age of consent becomes unequal.
    In 1973, Hawaii legalized homosexuality but gave it a higher age of consent to that of heterosexuality.
  • (date unknown)
    Serving openly in military becomes illegal.
    In 1973, the Uruguayan military dictatorship passed a ban on people with "open sexual deviations" from joining the military, which included LGBTIQ+ people.
  • Censorship of LGBT issues becomes imprisonment as punishment.
    In 1973, President Hastings Banda implemented a reform to the Penal Code which added a clause to Section 180 against idle persons. The clause explicitly prohibited men from wearing long hair. While often viewed as a response to the growing hippy movement, the law has in practice also been used to persecute transgender women, who are denied legal gender recognition, who decide to grow their hair long to express their gender. The law would be repealed in 2011.
  • January 1
    Same-sex marriage becomes banned.
    In 1973, Maryland became the first state in the United States to legally define a marriage as between a man and a woman and ban same-sex couples from marrying. However, there were cases of marriages outside the state being recognised.
  • Censorship of LGBT issues becomes no censorship.
    There are no known laws that censor or restrict LGBTIQ+ expression, advocacy or topics in Hawaii since 1973, when an amendment to the Penal Code removed "impersonation of the opposite sex" from its law against disorderly conduct.
  • Homosexual activity becomes legal.
    Legislative repeal, effective 1973.
  • Same-sex marriage becomes varies by region.
    From January 1973 to June 2015, the legality of gay marriage in the United States varied by state. Maryland passed the first law banning marriages in 1973 with others following suit but not all. On November 18th, 2003, Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that banning same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, and their ruling came into effect on May 17th, 2004. Massachusetts was the first state to legalize same-sex marriage. Between May 17th, 2004, and June 26th, 2015, when the United States Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, 37 states and the District of Columbia legalized same-sex marriage.

LGBT Organizations Founded in 1973

  • Lambda Legal FaviconLambda Legal
    United States
    Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through…
  • National Gay and Lesbian Task Force FaviconNational Gay and Lesbian Task Force
    United States
    The mission of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is to build the grassroots power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.