- Homosexuality
- ⚢✖ Illegal (imprisonment as punishment)
- Gay Marriage
- ⚭✖ Banned
- Censorship
- ✖ State-enforced
- Changing Gender
- ✖ Illegal
- 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
Sabah is lacking public opinion data.
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Homosexual activity in Sabah 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 Sabah is banned.
Censorship of LGBT issues in Sabah 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 Sabah is illegal.
recognition applications, with inconsistent results. In addition, fatwas
(religious edicts or opinions) on transgender persons issued by the Fatwa
Council carry weight in public opinion and government policies,
influencing the outcomes of these cases.
The most progressive case on the matter was JG v Pengarah Jabatan
Pendaftaran Negara (High Court of Kuala Lumpur) “JG”. 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. 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 allowed a transgender man 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”.
Legal recognition of non-binary gender in Sabah is not legally recognized.
LGBT discrimination in Sabah is no protections.
LGBT employment discrimination in Sabah is no protections.
LGBT housing discrimination in Sabah is no protections.
Same-sex adoption in Sabah is single only.
Serving openly in military in Sabah is illegal.
Blood donations by MSMs in Sabah is banned (indefinite deferral).
Conversion therapy in Sabah is not banned.
Equal age of consent in Sabah is n/a.