Under Western Australian law, which oversees Cocos, homosexuality was decriminalised by the Western Australian parliament with the "Law Reform (Decriminalisation of Sodomy) Act 1989" which came into effect in March of 1990

Under federal Australian law (to which the Keeling Islands are subject), same-sex marriage has been legal since 2017.

In Cocos (Keeling) Islands, there are no laws restricting the discussion or promotion of LGBTQ+ topics.

Cocos is under the jurisdiction of Western Australia whose Gender Reassignment Act (2000) requires applicants to have:
1. Undergone gender-affirming surgery (Article 15.b.i),
2. Adopted "the lifestyle" and have "the gender characteristics of a person of the gender to which the person has been reassigned" (Article 15.b.ii),
3. That they have received "proper counselling" in relation to their gender identity (Article 15.b.iii).

However, in 2011, the High Court of Australia held in AB and AH v. Western Australia (2011) that the surgical procedure was no longer a requirement, but some sort of physical alteration must have taken place. In this instance, HRT can be seen to fulfil this requirement. If the Board is satisfied, they will issue a "recognition certificate" that enables the applicant to request a gender marker change on the birth certificate.

The island's limited health infrastructure does not have the resources to offer gender-affirming care.

Non-binary genders are not recognised by local governments or under Western Australia law. However, there was discussion of it in 2018.

Cocos operates under Western Australian law and the only state or territory to ban intersex infant surgery is the ACT.

The Cocos (Keeling) Islands are external territories of and therefore protected by Australia.

Under Australian laws, men who have sex with men cannot donate blood within the 6 month deferral.

Cocos follows Western Australian law, under which conversion therapy is not banned. The government previously promised to ban it but a ban has yet been put in place.