1870s in LGBT Rights

Number of LGBT-related laws changed over time
  • July 13
    Homosexual activity becomes illegal (imprisonment as punishment).
    Bosnia was part of Austiran Empire, which homosexualty is illegal with imprisonment as punishment.
  • November 12
    Homosexual activity becomes male illegal, female legal.
    Article 365 in Chile's Penal Code of 1874 made sodomy a crime and punishable by "minor imprisonment in its medium degree." There were no references made to lesbian sex, so it was technically legal.
  • Equal age of consent becomes female equal, male n/a.
    Article 365 criminalized sodomy under the Penal Code of 1874, and there were no mentions of lesbian sex.
  • (date unknown)
    Homosexual activity becomes illegal (up to life in prison as punishment).
    When Fiji was colonized by the British in 1874, they inherited the British’s Victorian-era sodomy laws. The Offences Against the Person Act 1861 made the punishment for homosexual sex up to life in prison.
  • (date unknown)
    Homosexual activity becomes illegal (other penalty).
    Sodomy ("keikan") was criminalized in 1873 with article 266 of the Meiji Legal Code, however, it was hardly ever punished, with only 20 recorded instances of sodomy during 1876 to 1881.
  • February 15
    Homosexual activity becomes legal.
    Mexico’s first Penal Code (published in 1871) which entered into force in 1872, made no reference to the criminalisation of sodomy or any other consensual same-sex act between adults. Nevertheless, LGBTQ people could be prosecuted under the vague language of article 787 (Third Book; Title 6 'Violations against family order, public decency, or traditional customs'; chapter II 'Offences against public morals or good manners'), which never mentioned any sexual orientation or gender identity. The penalty included arrest and a fine if the alleged 'indecent act' was committed either in a public place (with or without witnesses) or in a private place. The first known reference of the application of this article towards LGBTQ people dates from November 1901 when the scandal of the 'baile de los cuarenta y uno' (the 'Ball of the Forty-One') occurred. Police illegally raid a private home in Mexico City where 41 men (some of them dressed in women's clothing) from the upper classes of the Mexican society were attending an event. The identity of the suspects was never disclosed, but according to some sources, there are some press articles at the time that state some of them could be conscripted into the army and sent to Yucatán to public works. This was as the Caste War against the Mayan Indigenous rebels was finalising. There are seven names listed in the records of the Supreme Court who filed a writ of protection against their conscription to the army because homosexuality was not illegal in Mexico at the time. Hence, the charge was simply replaced (crime against decency), but the punishment didn't change. This Penal Code was replaced in 1929.
  • May 15
    Homosexual activity becomes male illegal, female legal.
    Section 175 of the Criminal Code of the German Empire criminalized homosexual activity between men over the age of 18. The penalty was imprisonment or a loss of civil rights.
  • (date unknown)
    Equal age of consent becomes equal.
    Nationwide.
  • Equal age of consent becomes equal.
    Nationwide.
  • January 1
    Equal age of consent becomes equal.
  • Equal age of consent becomes equal.
  • Equal age of consent becomes equal.
  • Equal age of consent becomes equal.
  • Equal age of consent becomes equal.
  • Equal age of consent becomes equal.
    Set age of consent.
  • Equal age of consent becomes equal.
    Set age of consent.
  • Equal age of consent becomes equal.
  • Equal age of consent becomes equal.
  • Equal age of consent becomes equal.
  • Equal age of consent becomes equal.
  • Equal age of consent becomes equal.
  • Equal age of consent becomes equal.
  • Equal age of consent becomes equal.
  • (date unknown)
    Homosexual activity becomes legal.
  • Homosexual activity becomes illegal (imprisonment as punishment).
    Under Section 377 of Malaysia's Penal Code, ‘carnal knowledge against the order of nature’ is punishable by up to 20 years in prison with whipping. A subsection of the law also criminalises ‘gross indecency with another person’ with up to two years in prison. 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.
  • Equal age of consent becomes equal.
    Illegal with a minor under 12, ambiguous rulings observed 12-18, universally legal 18+.