Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Switzerland are some of the most comprehensive by world standards. Social attitudes and the legal situation have liberalised at an increasing pace since the 1940s, in parallel to the situation in Europe and the Western world more generally. Legislation providing for same-sex marriage, same-sex adoption, and IVF access was accepted by 64% of voters in a referendum on 26 September 2021, and entered into force on 1 July 2022.
Same-sex sexual acts between adults have been legal in Switzerland since 1942. The age of consent has been the same (at 16, or below if the age difference does not exceed three years) for homosexual and heterosexual sex since a referendum in May 1992. There has been legal recognition for same-sex relationships since 2007, following a referendum in June 2005. A legal procedure for the registration of sex changes following sex reassignment surgery was outlined in 1993, though since 2010, authorities have followed a practice of registration of sex changes without any requirement of surgery. Since January 2022, people can change their legal sex by self-determination. The Swiss Constitution of 1999 (Art. 8) guarantees equal treatment before the law, specifying "way of life" as one of the criteria protected against discrimination. Certain forms of homophobic discrimination have been a criminal offense since a referendum in February 2020.
The largest LGBT rights advocacy groups in Switzerland are Lesbenorganisation Schweiz for lesbian rights (founded in 1989), Pink Cross for LGBT rights (founded in 1993), and Transgender Network Switzerland (founded in 2010). In the 2010s, these groups had increasingly tended to make use of the initialism LGBTI (for "lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex") as an umbrella term for their respective areas of interest. Intersex organization Zwischengeschlecht campaigns for intersex rights and bodily autonomy.
Legality of same-sex sexual activity
Same-sex sexual activity was decriminalised nationwide in 1942 with the introduction of a national criminal code. Some cantons had legalized same-sex sexual activity previously. The cantons of Geneva, Ticino, Vaud and Valais had done so in 1798 by adopting the Napoleonic Code.
The higher age of consent for same-sex sexual activity (20 years instead of 16 for heterosexual sexual activity) was repealed by the criminal law reform of 1992.State-sponsored Homophobia A world survey of laws prohibiting same sex activity between consenting adults In a national referendum on 17 May 1992, 73% of the voters accepted the reform of Swiss federal legislation on sexual offences, including the elimination of all discrimination against homosexuality from the Penal Code. Article 187 of the Criminal Code states that the general age of consent for sexual activity in Switzerland is 16.
Recognition of same-sex relationships
Registered partnerships
Registered partnerships have been recognized by law (for same-sex couples only) since 1 January 2007, when the Registered Partnership Act came into force. Prior to this, the cantons of Geneva, Fribourg, Neuchâtel and Zürich already allowed registered partnerships. In 2007, one in ten of all unions in Zürich were registered partnerships. Kein Run aufs Standesamt , Swissinfo, accessed 1 November 2009
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage was legalized in a referendum on 26 September 2021. 64.1% of voters supported an amendment to the civil code that allowed same-sex marriage, adoption by same-sex couples and assisted reproductive technology for female same-sex couples. The amendment came into force on 1 July 2022.
The amendment originated with a bill by the Green Liberal Party of Switzerland MP Kathrin Bertschy providing for same-sex marriage. On 18 December 2020, the Swiss federal legislature adopted corresponding legislation, which also provides for IVF access for lesbian couples. In Switzerland's system of semi-direct democracy, the statute was subject to a popular referendum if its opponents collected 50,000 signatures demanding one within three months. The right-wing EDU party did so, collecting 61,027 signatures.
Religious communities In June 2019, the Protestant Women of Switzerland announced its support for the introduction of same-sex marriage and assisted reproductive technology for lesbian couples. In June 2019, the Swiss Union of Catholic Women also expressed its support for the introduction of same-sex marriage and assisted reproductive technology for lesbian couples. In November 2019, the Protestant Church of Switzerland voted in favour of the introduction of civil marriage for same-sex couples. In August 2020, the Old Catholic Church in Switzerland voted in favour of performing same-sex marriages in its churches.
Adoption and parenting Single people, regardless of sexual orientation, may adopt children. A bill permitting stepchild adoption for same-sex couples was approved by Parliament in spring 2016. Opponents unsuccessfully tried to force a referendum on the bill. The law came into effect on 1 January 2018. By late December 2018, about one year after the adoption law had taken effect, about 173 same-sex stepchild adoption applications had been filed. This data does not include the cantons of Luzern, Thurgau, and Zürich. About 22 had been filed in the canton of Geneva and 20 in the city of Lausanne.
Joint adoption was illegal for same-sex couples in Switzerland because it is restricted to heterosexual married couples. The statutory amendment that legalised same-sex marriage permits married same-sex couples to adopt jointly and access IVF treatment went into legal effect from July 1, 2022."Ehe für alle" bringt volles Adoptionsrecht, Luzerner Zeitung, 3 June 2018
Discrimination protections Anti-discrimination laws Constitutional and civil law The Swiss Constitution (Art. 8) guarantees equal treatment before the law, specifying "way of life" as one of the many stated criteria protected against unfair discrimination. Swiss law recognizes a very strong principle of freedom of association and, as such, has only limited provisions to outlaw discrimination in the private sector or between private individuals. Notable exceptions are the Law for Equal Treatment of Men and Women (; ; ; ) and Article 261bis of the Penal Code outlawing discrimination based on "race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation". Because of this situation, private lawsuits against alleged discrimination in recent years have increasingly attempted to invoke the difficult-to-interpret prohibition of "personal injury" (Art. 28a of the Civil Code).Privatrechtliche Normen zum Schutz vor Diskriminierung (humanrights.ch), September 2016. Discriminatory termination of employment is protected against if it can be shown that employment was terminated based on "a property to which the other party is entitled by virtue of their personhood, except where that property bears a relation to the nature of the employment contract or significantly affects the work environment".Eigenschaft, die der anderen Partei kraft ihrer Persönlichkeit zusteht, es sei denn, diese Eigenschaft stehe in einem Zusammenhang mit dem Arbeitsverhältnis oder beeinträchtige wesentlich die Zusammenarbeit im Betrieb SR 210.328 However, there have been very few actual legal proceedings based on lawsuits against alleged discrimination on such grounds. A 2015 survey found seven individual cases, none of which involved alleged discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.Walter Kälin et al., Der Zugang zur Justiz in Diskriminierungsfällen (2015), 43f. Alleged grounds for discrimination included: religion (1990), race (1993), antisemitism (1999), political orientation (animal rights activism, 2002), race (2005), age (2005) and ethnicity (2006).
There are also anti-discrimination provisions in the laws and regulations of some cantons and municipalities. For example, in September 2017, the cantonal executive body of Geneva adopted new regulations against discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation and gender identity in the cantonal government. Workplace discrimination against LGBT people is considered to be an ongoing problem in a 2014 report by the Institute of Gender Studies at the University of Geneva and the Federation of LGBT Associations of Geneva.
Criminal law
Since February 2020, discrimination because of a person's "sexual orientation" is prohibited by Art. 261bis of the Swiss Criminal Code. This category was added by a 2018 law, adopted by Swiss voters in a referendum on 9 February 2020, to a provision that already prohibited discrimination because of race, ethnic origin or religion. The specific prohibited acts are: public incitement to hatred or discrimination, the public dissemination of ideologies or propaganda campaigns that have as their object the systematic denigration or defamation of persons, public denigration or discrimination of persons in a manner that violates human dignity, or refusing to provide a service that is intended to be provided to the general public. Violations are liable to be punished by a custodial sentence not exceeding three years, or a monetary penalty.
This change in law was initiated in 2013 by , an MP of the Social Democratic Party, with a bill to outlaw all "discrimination and incitement of hatred" on the basis of "race, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation". On 11 March 2015, the National Council voted 103–73 to allow the bill to continue through the legislative process. The Committee of Legal Affairs of the Council of States allowed the bill to proceed on 23 April 2015. In February 2017, the Committee of Legal Affairs of the National Council approved, in a 15–9 vote, an amendment to the bill adding "gender identity" as a prohibited ground of discrimination. The bill was opposed by several members of the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC), Loi contre l'homophobie et la transphobie: la droite freine des quatre fers 360.ch, 10 October 2017 which regarded it as unnecessary, although the party as a whole chose not to take a position on the bill. The other parties mostly supported the bill, as did 86% of the Swiss people according to polls.