Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Croatia have expanded since the turn of the 21st century, especially in the 2010s and 2020s, and are considered some of the most advanced among the ex-socialist and Yugosphere countries. However, LGBTQ people may still face some legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents. The status of same-sex relationships was first formally recognized in 2003 under a law dealing with unregistered cohabitations. As a result of a 2013 referendum, the Constitution of Croatia defines marriage solely as a union between a woman and man, effectively prohibiting same-sex marriage. Since the introduction of the Life Partnership Act in 2014, same-sex couples have effectively enjoyed rights equal to heterosexual married couples in almost all of its aspects, except adoption until 2022. In 2022, a final court judgement allowed same-sex adoption (both stepchild and joint adoptions) under the same conditions as for mixed-sex couples. Same-sex couples in Croatia can also apply for foster care since 2020. Since 2022, same-sex couples enjoy rights equivalent to those in Western European countries, differing only in the terminology of the union — “life partnership” rather than “marriage.”. Croatian law forbids all discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression in all civil and state matters; any such identity is considered a private matter, and such information gathering for any purpose is forbidden as well.
Centre-left, centre, liberal and green political parties have generally been the main proponents of LGBTQ rights promulgation, while right-wing, centre-right and Christian democratic political parties and movements with ties to the Roman Catholic Church have been in opposition to or moderation of the extension of rights. In 2024, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) ranked Croatia seventeenth in terms of LGBTQ rights out of 49 observed European countries, which represented an improvement compared to the previous year's position of eighteenth place. Croatia is among 11 member countries that make up an LGBTQ Core Group at the United Nations on Ending Violence and Discrimination. Several LGBT+ related bills that codify and expand on existing rights were introduced in 2023 by the opposition, notably the We can! party () and their allies. These included the legal recognition of same-sex marriage in all but name, the right to apply for foster care, the right to apply to adopt children, more inclusive IVF access, easier legal gender change, help for hate crime victims, better legal protection for LGBTQ+ people and legal recognition of parenthood for children adopted by same-sex couples. None of the proposed bills has passed legislation as of January 2024.
LGBTQ history in Croatia The Adriatic Republic of Ragusa introduced the death penalty for sodomy in 1474 as a response to stereotypical fears that Ottoman conquests in the region will lead to the spread of homosexuality.
19th and 20th century The Penal Code established on 27 May 1852 in the Habsburg Kingdom of Croatia (the first modern one in Croatian) did not specify homosexuality as a crime. A subsequent draft of the new Penal Code for 1879 for the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia suggested male homosexual acts be punished with up to five years of prison, but the draft was never formally adopted.
During World War II, homosexual persons were prosecuted under various fascist regimes, but there is no record of organized persecution of homosexuals in the fascist Independent State of Croatia, whose laws did not explicitly contain a regulation directed against them. The communist Yugoslav Partisans, however, issued at least one death sentence against a homosexual, Josip Mardešić, the commander of the Croatian Partisans' communication network until early 1944, when he was discovered to have had affairs with his male subordinates. Mardešić's sexual partners were not executed, only expelled from the Communist Party and reprimanded.Franko Dota Punishing homosexuals in the Yugoslav Anti-fascist Resistance Army (2019) pp. 136–138 "The sentence of Josip Mardešić is the only ruling for male homosexuality pronounced by a Yugoslav Partisan court martial I have thus far been able to find. Without at least a few more similar sentences, it is impossible to determine how consistent the Partisans were in punishing homosexuality... The most important fact to stress is that Mardešić was punished so drastically because of his position and rank. As the commander of the whole Croatian Partisan army communication network, he had knowledge of all, including the most sensitive, information..."
Socialist Republic of Croatia
During the period when Croatia was part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, male homosexual acts were made illegal and punishable with up to two years of prison under the Penal Code of 9 March 1951. However, the repression of homosexuals in Yugoslavia effectively began immediately after the end of the war. Homosexuals, labeled by communists as "enemies of the system", were also prohibited from joining the Communist Party of Yugoslavia.
This situation changed when Croatia and other republics gained more control over their own legislature. Constitutional reforms in Yugoslavia in 1974 resulted in the abolishment of the federal Penal Code, allowing every republic to create its own. The Socialist Republic of Croatia created its own Code in 1977, and decriminalized homosexual activity. The Croatian Medical Chamber removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders in 1973 – four years before the introduction of the new Penal Code, and seventeen years before the World Health Organization did the same. Even though being a member of Yugoslavia meant Croatia was a communist country, it was never under the Iron Curtain, thus making it a relatively open country that was influenced by social changes in the wider developed world.
The 1980s brought more visibility to LGBT people. In 1985, Toni Marošević became the first openly gay media person, and briefly hosted a radio show on the Omladinski radio radio station that dealt with marginal socio-political issues. He later revealed that he had been asked on several occasions by the League of Communists of Croatia to form an LGBT faction of the party. The first lesbian association in Croatia, the "Lila initiative", was formed in 1989, but ceased to exist a year later.
Post-communist era The 1990s brought a slowdown in terms of the progression of LGBT rights mainly as a result of the breakup of Yugoslavia followed by the Croatian War of Independence when many Croatian LGBT people, then involved in various feminist, peace and green organizations, joined the anti-war campaign within Croatia. Following Croatian independence, in 1992 the first LGBT association was officially formed, under the name of LIGMA (, 'lesbian and gay action', sometimes referred to in English as the Lesbian and Gay Men's Association). This only lasted until 1997 as the socio-political climate of the time proved hostile to the advancement of gay rights. The most significant event that occurred in the 1990s was the equalization of the age of consent for all sexual activity in 1998 (both heterosexual and homosexual). The situation stagnated until 2000 when a new government coalition, consisting mainly of parties of the centre-left and led by Ivica Račan, took power from the HDZ after their ten-year rule. The new government coalition brought attention to rights of LGBT citizens of Croatia with the introduction of the Same-sex community law in 2003.
The 2000s proved a turning point for LGBT history in Croatia with the formation of several LGBT associations (with the Rijeka-based Lesbian organisation Rijeka - LORI in 2000 and ISKORAK in 2002 being among the first); the introduction of unregistered cohabitations; the outlawing of all anti-LGBT discrimination (including recognition of hate-crime based on sexual orientation and gender identity); and the first gay pride event in Zagreb in 2002 during which a group of extremists attacked a number of marchers. Despite that, later marches drew thousands of participants without incidents. Several political parties as well as both national presidents elected in 2000s have shown public support for LGBT rights, with some politicians even actively participating in Gay Pride events on a regular basis.
In early 2005 the Sabor rejected a registered partnerships proposal put forward by Šime Lučin (SDP) and the independent Ivo Banac. Lucija Čikeš MP, a member of the then-ruling HDZ, called for the proposal to be dropped because "the whole universe is heterosexual, from the atom and the smallest particle; from a fly to an elephant". Another HDZ MP objected on the grounds that, "85% of the population considers itself Catholic and the Church is against heterosexual and homosexual equality". However, the medical and physical professions, and the media more generally rejected these statements in opposition, warning that all the members of the Sabor had a duty to vote according to the Constitution which bans discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.
In 2009, the governing Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party passed a controversial law restricting access to in vitro fertilisation (IVF) solely to married couples and heterosexual couples who could prove that they had been cohabitating for at least three years. HDZ initially attempted to pass the law restricting access to IVF solely to married couples, but due to strong public pressure HDZ amended the proposed law to allow access to IVF for non-married heterosexual couples as well. The Catholic Church actively supported the first legislative proposal, arguing that access to IVF should only be granted to married couples. As HDZ is a self-declared Christian democratic party, the then Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Darko Milinović, indicated that the government took the Church's position on the matter seriously.
In 2009, the European Committee on Social Rights found several discriminatory statements in a biology course textbook mandatory in Croatian schools. It ruled that the statements violated Croatia's obligations under the European Social Charter.
The 2010s have been marked with a second annual gay pride event in Croatia in the city of Split, a third in Osijek, and the return in 2011 of the centre-left coalition sympathetic to gay rights after the eight-year rule by the conservative-led coalition. The Croatian Government also introduced a Life Partnership Act which makes same-sex couples effectively equal to married couples in everything except full adoption rights. In November 2010, the European Commission's annual progress report on Croatia's candidacy to the EU stated the number of homophobic incidents in Croatia provided concern, and that further effort had to be made in combating hate crime. A 2010 resolution by the European Parliament expressed "concern at the resentment against the LGBT minority in Croatia, evidenced most recently by homophobic attacks on participants in the LGBT Pride parade in Zagreb; urges the Croatian authorities to condemn and prosecute political hatred and violence against any minority; and invites the Croatian Government to implement and enforce the Anti-Discrimination Law".