- Homosexuality
- ⚢✔ Legal
- Gay Marriage
- ⚭✔ Legal
- Censorship
- ✔ No censorship
- Changing Gender
- ✖ Legal, but requires medical diagnosis
- Gender-Affirming Care
- ✖ Legal, but banned for minors
- Non-Binary Gender Recognition
- ✖ Not legally recognized
- Discrimination
- ✖ Illegal in some contexts
- Employment Discrimination
- ✔ Sexual orientation and gender identity
- Housing Discrimination
- ✖ Sexual orientation only
- Adoption
- ✔ Legal
- Intersex Infant Surgery
- ✖ Parental approval required
- Military
- ✔ Legal
- Donating Blood
- ✔ Legal
- Conversion Therapy
- ✖ Not banned
- Age of Consent
- ✔ Equal
Public Opinion
Surveys in Northern Ireland have shown mixed views towards LGBTQ+ rights and issues.
Northern Ireland is lacking public opinion data.
Help expand our understanding of the public's view on LGBTQ+ issues in Northern Ireland by sharing a link to a survey from a reputable organization.
Suggest Public Opinion DataHave you lived in or visited Northern Ireland?
Share your experience of being LGBTQ+ in Northern Ireland.
Take SurveyHistory
Homosexual activity in Northern Ireland is legal.
Subsequent laws, such as The Labouchere Amendment (Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885) redefined the offence and allowed for other punishments, for example Oscar Wilde was sentenced to two years hard labour in 1895, and in 1952 Alan Turing was chemically castrated.
Female homosexuality and sexual acts were not addressed in the law, and therefore, they technically would have been legal, though law enforcement often applied the law towards women.
Censorship of LGBT issues in Northern Ireland is no censorship.
Right to change legal gender in Northern Ireland is legal, but requires medical diagnosis.
1. Must be 18 years of age
2. Must have a gender-dysphoria diagnosis
3. Must intend "to continue to live in the acquired gender until death"
4. Has lived in the acquired gender for at least 2 years.
5. If married: must acquire the consent of the spouse.
Eligibility is determined by a Gender Recognition Panel and if approved then one is granted a gender recognition certificate and may change the gender marker on legal documents.
Gender-affirming care in Northern Ireland is legal, but banned for minors.
This measure originally was meant to last from June 3rd until September 3rd, but was extended twice and is now indefinite. It extends to Scotland and Northern Ireland as well (The Sinn Fein gov agreed to follow it and medicines powers are reserved to the UK)
Legal recognition of non-binary gender in Northern Ireland is not legally recognized.
In 2021, the UK government said (in response to a petition) that legal recognition of non-binary gender identity would have "complex practical consequences for other areas of the law, service provision and public life", and said that they felt existing legislation allowing people to change their legal gender went far enough. Courts have, however, ruled that people with non-binary identities are protected from discrimination by the Equality Act.
On 4 October 2023, then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak asserted his stance on gender identity in a speech at the Conservative Party conference, stating it was “common sense” that “a man is a man and a woman is a woman”.
In January 2024, the High Court in London ruled that (in the case of a US citizen trying to have their non-binary identity recognised in the UK), "We have decided that whenever the Gender Recognition Act refers to ‘gender’ it refers to a binary concept – that is, to male, or to female gender. The GRP [Gender Recognition Panel] accordingly, had and has no power to issue a gender recognition certificate to the claimant which says that they are ‘non-binary’".
The act applied to the entire UK, and Scotland's attempts to recognise non-binary genders have all failed.
LGBT discrimination in Northern Ireland is illegal in some contexts.
LGBT employment discrimination in Northern Ireland is sexual orientation and gender identity.
LGBT housing discrimination in Northern Ireland is sexual orientation only.
Same-sex adoption in Northern Ireland is legal.
Intersex infant surgery in Northern Ireland is parental approval required.
Serving openly in military in Northern Ireland is legal.
Blood donations by MSMs in Northern Ireland is legal.
Conversion therapy in Northern Ireland is not banned.
In July of 2024, new prime minister Kier Starmer announced his government would put forward a bill to ban conversion therapy. This ban would include sexual orientation and gender identity. As of March 2025, this bill is yet to be introduced.
Equal age of consent in Northern Ireland is equal.