The 1822 Criminal Code of the Dominican Republic did not criminalise same sex activity between consenting adults in private. The Criminal Code was updated in 2007 but did not change this.

Dominican Republic law does not recognise any marriage or partnership between same sex couples. In 2010 the Constitution was amended to affirm that "The State shall promote and protect the family organization based on the institution of marriage between a man and a woman" (Article 55). In 2018 the IACHR ruled that the American Convention on Human Rights requires Dominican Republic to legalise same-sex marriage.

In the Dominican Republic, there are no laws restricting the discussion or promotion of LGBTQ+ topics however there are reports of some laws being overly-enforced on LGBT rights activists. Additionally there are reports of censorship around other issues but not LGBT issues.

Legal gender change is currently illegal in the Dominican Republic. In spite of this, laws do exist in the realm of name change as far back as 1944. In January 2023, a process for name change was further strengthened through the Organic Law on Civil Status Acts. A attempt to regulate this institution failed in 2021.

The hormonal transition of trans people is not medically banned.

The Dominican Republic does not allow gender change, including non-binary gender.

No law offers protection based on "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" in broad terms. At least three laws explicitly mention “sexual orientation” and one law "gender identity", as grounds for protection. The scope of these laws is limited to specific populations: youth (aged 14-25) and people living with HIV.

Article 2 of the General Law on Youth (Law No. 49) (2000), prohibits discrimination based on "sexual orientation".
Article 2 of the Law on HIV/Aids (Law No. 135) (2011) protects people living with HIV from discrimination based on "sexual orientation" and "gender identity".

Article 11 on "Equality before the Law" of Law No. 76-02, which establishes the Criminal Procedure Code of the Dominican Republic, states: "All persons are equal before the law and must be treated according to the same rules. Judges and the public ministry must take into account the particular conditions of the persons and the case, but they cannot base their decisions on nationality, gender, race, creed or religion, political ideas, sexual orientation, economic or social position or any other condition with discriminatory implications.

In July 2024, the Chamber of Deputies approved in its first reading a Bill on a new Penal Code of the Dominican Republic (2024), after the Senate also voted in its favour in a second reading. However, Article 185 does not include “sexual orientation” from the protected characteristics against discrimination list.

The old one stipulated that a person could not be fired, discriminated against or harassed in a work environment because of their sexual orientation or gender identity because it could proceed legally but after the change that was made on June 23, 2021 in the lower chamber this small section was eliminated and summarized to remove the protection for thousands of LGBT people in the Dominican Republic


Article 186 of the new Criminal Code criminalizes the crime of "discrimination" and punishes acts such as refusing to provide a person with a good or service, hindering an economic activity or refusing to hire him because of his origin, age, sex, race, economic condition or religion, among other reasons.

The law offers no protection for discrimination in matters of housing.

Same sex couples are not allowed to adopt. Additional scrutiny is placed on unmarried people wishing to adopt.

In 2012 the newspaper El Caribe cited the Minister of the Armed Forces as saying that "presence of homosexuals in their ranks" was prohibited by law.

The Domincian Red Cross does not seem to serve any indication that donation for homosexuals can be a problem.

A provision states on the webpage “Prevent and alleviate human suffering, improving the situation of the most vulnerable people, with absolute impartiality and without discrimination of race, nationality, sex, social class, religion or political opinion.”

Conversion therapy ban is being considered but not yet enacted.

The age of consent is set equally at 18 years of age in the Code for the protection of the rights of children and adolescents.