1860s in LGBT Rights

Number of LGBT-related laws changed over time
  • January 1
    Equal age of consent becomes unequal.
    The age of consent in Suriname is 16 for heterosexuals, and 18 for homosexuals.
  • July 1
    Homosexual activity becomes illegal (imprisonment as punishment).
    Indefinite Imprisonment as "Dangerous Sex Offender" - origin of law was included from confederation in 1867.
  • (date unknown)
    Equal age of consent becomes equal.
  • Homosexual activity becomes legal.
    Gay sex in San Marino has been lawful since 1865.
  • January 1
    Homosexual activity becomes male illegal, female legal.
    Under The Offences Against the Person Act (1864) (Article 76) Female same-sex encounters are not explicitly outlawed. However, all individuals are prohibited from buggery (anal sex) with another individual. The punishment for buggery is up to 10 years imprisonment, with hard labor.
  • June 20
    Homosexual activity becomes male illegal, female legal.
    When West Virginia was admitted to the Union after it broke away from Virginia during the American Civil War, it inherited Virginia's sodomy laws. This is because West Virginia's first constitution authorized that laws of Virginia in effect at the time of separation would remain in force. The punishment for sodomy was 1-5 years in jail. In 1930, a code revision eliminated the term "buggery" and replaced it with "crimes against nature." The punishment for "crimes against nature." in the code revision was "not less than one nor more than ten years" in the penitentiary (a prison for people convicted of serious crimes).
  • January 1
    Homosexual activity becomes illegal (imprisonment as punishment).
    The Indian Penal Code was enacted by the Imperial Legislative Council, the legislature during British direct rule in India. Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code criminalized same-sex sexual acts and carried a penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment.
  • Homosexual activity becomes illegal (up to life in prison as punishment).
    Homosexuality is illegal in Pakistan under Article 377 in Pakistan’s Penal Code of 1860. The punishment for violation of Article 377 is two years to life imprisonment, fines, or both. The Zina provisions of the Hudood Ordinance (1979), criminalize all sexual conduct outside of marriage with the death penalty. However, there are no known cases of these provisions being used against gay people.
  • November 1
    Homosexual activity becomes illegal (up to life in prison as punishment).
    The Offences Against the Person Act 1861 lowered the maximum penalty to life imprisonment. 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 the law often applied the law towards women.
  • May 1
    Homosexual activity becomes illegal (imprisonment as punishment).
    Section 377 of Myanmar's Penal Code states: "Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal shall be punished with transportation for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine."
  • (date unknown)
    Homosexual activity becomes illegal (other penalty).
    During the years of the political unification process of the Italian peninsula, the Sardinian Code of Criminal Procedure of 1859 was extended, in successive stages, to the various annexed territories. After the changes made by Minister Giuseppe Pisanelli, the definitive text was promulgated on November 26, 1865, becoming the first Italian Code of Criminal Procedure, effective from January 1, 1866. The proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy (March 18, 1861) did not produce an immediate recomposition of the criminal legislation: at the same time as the annexations, the Criminal Code of Savoy Piedmont had been extended to the former Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Among these changes was the application of Article 425, thus making homosexual relations illegal in Campania with exemplary punishments ranging from seven years to forced labor.
  • January 1
    Serving openly in military becomes illegal.
    From roughly 1860s to 1993 it was illegal to serve in the military as a open gay male/ lesbian female due to 1861 act criminalizing homosexual relations of any kind, please see homosexual activity.
  • Homosexual activity becomes illegal (up to life in prison as punishment).
    The Offences Against the Persons Act, 1861 made “buggery” an offence punishable by penal servitude. Under the section “Unnatural Offences”, the Act read: “Whosoever shall be convicted of the abominable crime of buggery, committed either with mankind or with any animal shall be liable … to be kept in penal servitude for life.”
  • Homosexual activity becomes illegal (imprisonment as punishment).
    Under colonial era statutes, homosexuality is illegal in Myanmar with up to 20 years in prison. Torture and vigilante executions are also common.
  • (date unknown)
    Same-sex marriage becomes banned.
    Same sex marriage is not legal
  • Homosexual activity becomes male illegal, female legal.
    Male homosexuality is technically punishable with life imprisonment but is rarely enforced.
  • October 6
    Same-sex marriage becomes banned.
    Homosexuality is illegal in Bangladesh, so same-sex relationships are illegal as well.
  • Homosexual activity becomes illegal (up to life in prison as punishment).
    Section 377 of the penal code states that "unnatural intersources" with any men women or animal is punishable for up to life in prison.
  • May 12
    Homosexual activity becomes male illegal, female legal.
    The Penal Code of the Principality of Serbia (Kingdom of Serbia as of March 7, 1882) passed on March 29, 1860 criminalized sex between men. Paragraph 206: Unnatural fornication between persons of the male sex to be punished by imprisonment from six months to four years and loss of civil honor.
  • January 1
    Homosexual activity becomes male illegal, female legal.
    up to 3 years in prison.