- Homosexuality
- ⚢✖ Illegal (imprisonment as punishment)
- Gay Marriage
- ⚭✖ Banned
- Censorship
- ✖ State-enforced
- Changing Gender
- Ambiguous
- Gender-Affirming Care
- ✖ Restricted
- Non-Binary Gender Recognition
- ✖ Not legally recognized
- Discrimination
- ✖ No protections
- Employment Discrimination
- ✖ No protections
- Housing Discrimination
- ✖ No protections
- Adoption
- ✖ Single only
- Intersex Infant Surgery
- Unknown
- Military
- ✖ Illegal
- Donating Blood
- ✖ Banned (indefinite deferral)
- Conversion Therapy
- ✖ Not banned
- Age of Consent
- N/A
Public Opinion
Recent studies in Malaysia indicate societal resistance to LGBTQ+ rights.
Perception of LGBTQ+ People
Survey results from 7 LGBTQ+ Equaldex users who lived in or visited Malaysia.
Overall
Perceived Safety**Survey results represent personal perceptions of safety and may not be indicative of current actual conditions.
Equal Treatment
Visibility & Representation
Culture
Services
History
Homosexual activity in Malaysia is illegal (imprisonment as punishment).
In addition, Muslim citizens of Malaysia can be sentenced to fines, caning and imprisonment for conducting same-sex sexual relations under some states which imposes sharia law. The maximum sentence that sharia courts can impose for these acts is up to three years prison, fines of up to RM 5,000 (1,204 USD) and caning of up to six strokes or all three.
Same-sex marriage in Malaysia is banned.
Censorship of LGBT issues in Malaysia is state-enforced.
In July 2023, local authorities cut short a music festival after Matty Healy, the lead singer of The 1975, criticised Malaysia’s anti-LGBT laws before kissing his male bandmate onstage. The band was subsequently banned from performing in Malaysia, while the government tightened regulations regarding performances by foreign artistes in the country.
In August 2023, the government banned Pride-themed Swatch watches under the Printing Presses and Publications Act after confiscating them from shops in May, on the grounds that they were harmful to morality and Malaysia's interests by “promoting, supporting and normalising the LGBTQ movement that is not accepted by the general public”.
However, the Communications and Multimedia Act does not cover the censorship of streaming services, allowing films and series with LGBT content to stream on platforms like Netflix in the country.
Right to change legal gender in Malaysia is ambiguous.
The most progressive case on the matter was JG v Pengarah Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (“JG”) (2005). The court followed the Australian case of "Re Kevin" and rejected the "Corbett" view of sex as immutably fixed at birth. In the absence of legislative guidance, the court held that medical experts should determine gender, and with both physical and psychological aspects examined by doctors, the court found that the applicant was female and allowed to change the last number on her Identity Card (marking her as female).
However, the reasoning in "Re JG" is not always found instructive in other courts hearing legal gender recognition cases. In 2013, in Kristie Chan v. Ketua Pengarah Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (2013), the Court of Appeals rejected a gender recognition application by a transgender woman who had undergone gender affirming surgeries overseas. The court did so on the ground that there was no medical evidence from Malaysian experts on whether gender affirming surgery “changes a person’s gender”.
In 2016, another High Court level case, Tan Pooi Yee v. Ketua Pengarah Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (2016) allowed a transgender man to obtain legal gender recognition after evidence of surgeries, finding the court’s standard of proof in "Re Kristie Chan", which insisted on chromosomal requirements, to be “impossible” and “unjust”. However, in 2017, the Court of Appeal found in favour of the National Registration Department (the government body that issues national identity documents) when it appealed that High Court decision.
In 2021, several ministries including the Prime Minister's Department rejected SUHAKAM's (the Human Rights Commision of Malaysia) proposal to conduct a study on the feasibility of specific laws in Malaysia to recognise transgender people. They said that "recognition of the third gender should not be allowed" and that such a campaign is "inappropriate" in the Malaysian context.
Legal recognition of non-binary gender in Malaysia is not legally recognized.
LGBT discrimination in Malaysia is no protections.
LGBT employment discrimination in Malaysia is no protections.
LGBT housing discrimination in Malaysia is no protections.
Same-sex adoption in Malaysia is single only.
Intersex infant surgery in Malaysia is unknown.
Serving openly in military in Malaysia is illegal.
Blood donations by MSMs in Malaysia is banned (indefinite deferral).
Conversion therapy in Malaysia is not banned.
Equal age of consent in Malaysia is n/a.
LGBT Rights by State
View the LGBT laws in each individual state of Malaysia.
- Terengganu
- Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur (Federal Territory)
- Wilayah Persekutuan Labuan (Federal Territory)
- Wilayah Persekutuan Putrajaya (Federal Territory)