Censorship of LGBTQ issues is practised by some countries around the world. It may take a variety of forms, including anti-LGBTQ curriculum laws in some states of the United States, the Russian anti-LGBTQ law prohibiting the "promotion of non-traditional sexual relationships", the Hungarian anti-LGBTQ law banning "content portraying or promoting sex reassignment or homosexuality", and laws in some Islamic states such as Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran prohibiting advocacy that offends Islamic morality.
Anti-"LGBTQ propaganda" laws
The table below lists, in chronological order, the United Nations member states that have passed laws explicitly prohibiting "propaganda of homosexuality and non-heterosexual orientation".
Country Date Long title 1 Russia 1 July 2013 For the purpose of protecting children from information advocating a denial of traditional family values 2 Hungary 1 July 2021 On taking more severe actions against pedophile offenders and amending certain acts for the protection of children 3 Bulgaria 16 August 2024 On amending and supplementing the law on school education 4 Georgia 3 October 2024 On family values and protection of minors 5 Kazakhstan 1 January 2026 On introducing changes and additions to some legislative acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on matters of archival affairs and restrictions on the distribution of illegal content 6 Belarus 19 June 2026 On amendments to the codes of the Republic of Belarus on administrative liability issues
Several countries criminalize same-sex sexual activity while also maintaining specific 'promotion of homosexuality' statutes.
Country Date Long title 1 Nigeria 7 January 2014 An act to make provisions for the prohibition of relationship between persons of the same sex, celebration of marriage by them, and for other matters connected therewith 2 Uganda 30 May 2023 An act to prohibit any form of sexual relations between persons of the same sex; to prohibit the promotion or recognition of sexual relations between persons of the same sex; and for related matters. 3 Burkina Faso 11 July 2024 Law No. 024-2024/ALT of July 11, 2024, establishing the Penal Code. 4 Mali 13 December 2024 Law No. 2024-027 of December 13, 2024, establishing the Penal Code. 5 Senegal 30 March 2026 Law No. 2026-15 of March 27, 2026, amending Law No. 65-60 of July 21, 1965, establishing the Penal Code.
Belarus
Bulgaria
Georgia
Hungary
Kazakhstan
Russia
Nigeria
Uganda
Burkina Faso
Mali
Senegal
Repealed laws Australia (sub-national)
In December 1989 in the state of Western Australia, the Parliament of Western Australia passed the Law Reform (Decriminalisation of Sodomy) Act 1989 which decriminalised private gay sex while making it a crime for a person to "...promote or encourage homosexual behaviour as part of the teaching in any primary or secondary educational institutions..." or make public policy with respect to the undefined promotion of homosexual behaviour. It was repealed in 2002 via the Acts Amendment (Gay and Lesbian Law Reform) Act 2002, which also repealed the laws with respect to promotion of homosexual behaviour in public policy and in educational institutions.
Brazil (sub-national) Since 2023, the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court (STF) has revoked several laws and law proposals against the use of gender-neutral language in schools, either municipally or state-wide. The Justices analyzed an Allegation of Non-Compliance with a Fundamental Precept filed by the and the Brazilian Association of Homotransaffective Families during a virtual plenary session. The organizations argue that the legislation violates the fundamental rights to freedom of speech, as well as the freedom to learn and professorship, and the ban entails censorship of teachers, affecting the dignity of non-binary people — those who do not identify exclusively as male or female — by prohibiting them from using the language in which they feel most comfortable. The institutions recall Supreme Court decisions that recognized the rights of the LGBTI+ population.
On 5 May 2016, the state of Alagoas enacted a law establishing the program (), which prohibits "ideological and political indoctrination" in the state's schools. On 21 March 2017, Supreme Court Justice Luís Roberto Barroso suspended the law through a preliminary injunction.
On October 2017, councilman Dr. Brito (PEN) proposed two draft bills to institute the Escola sem Partido program in schools in Foz do Iguaçu. Amid the approval of one of these bills, teachers and LGBTQ rights activists protested against it. On 5 July 2018, Justice Dias Toffoli issued an injunction suspending the law, after a lawsuit filed by the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB). On 8 May 2020, the Supreme Federal Court voted unanimously to overturn the city law.
On 13 September 2018, the Londrina City Council approved a law prohibiting the teaching of gender issues in schools. On 13 December 2019, Justice Luís Roberto Barroso issued an injunction overturning the municipal law.
On 17 October 2024, the Legislative Assembly of Amazonas enacted a law prohibiting "the reproduction of digital media that uses children linked to homosexuality." The law was proposed by the state deputy Carlinhos Bessa (PV-AM) and approved with 21 votes in favor, none against, and 3 abstentions.
On 13 December 2025, the law was amended through bill 816/2024, also proposed by Carlinhos Bessa, removing the term "homosexuality". Since then, current law prohibits "the reproduction of sexual content linked to children in cultural and artistic media."
Cuba Following the 1959 Cuban Revolution, the government implemented policies that censored and suppressed LGBTQ expression, particularly during the 1960s and 1970s. In 1965, the regime established Military Units to Aid Production (UMAPs), where individuals deemed "anti-social," including homosexuals, were subjected to forced labor aimed at "rehabilitation." These camps operated until 1968 and were part of broader efforts to enforce heteronormative standards.
During the "Grey Years" (1971–1976), a period marked by cultural repression, the Cuban government intensified its censorship of LGBTQ content. Artists and intellectuals suspected of homosexuality faced blacklisting, and works featuring LGBTQ themes were banned or heavily censored. This era significantly curtailed the visibility and rights of LGBTQ individuals in Cuban society.
Legal reforms began to emerge in the late 20th century. In 1979, Cuba decriminalized consensual same-sex sexual activity between adults. However, public displays of homosexuality remained punishable under laws against "public scandal" until 1997, when such provisions were removed, signaling a shift toward greater acceptance.
Lithuania
On 16 June 2009, the Seimas (Lithuanian Parliament) approved an amendment to the Law on the Protection of Minors against the Detrimental Effects of Public Information (), which would have effectively banned the "promotion of homosexual relations". The amendment was scheduled to go into effect on 1 March 2010. It was vetoed by the President citing "lack of definitions", but the veto was overturned by the Parliament. The wording of the law forbade the "propaganda of homosexual, bisexual or polygamous relations". According to some politicians who voted in favor, the possibility of defining "propaganda" should be left to lawyers.
On 17 September 2009, the European Parliament passed a resolution condemning the law and requesting the EU Fundamental Rights Agency issue a legal opinion on it. On 10 November 2009, the Seimas responded by adopting a resolution requesting the Government to seek the invalidation of the European Parliament resolution, which it condemned as an unlawful act. The EU Fundamental Rights Agency wrote to the European Parliament that it was not going to submit the requested legal opinion, given that it had no mandate to evaluate the legislation of member states.
Newly elected President Dalia Grybauskaitė expressed her strong disapproval of the law and formed a commission to elaborate a draft to repeal the discriminatory provisions. On 22 December 2009, the clauses banning the promotion among minors of "homosexual, bisexual, and polygamous relations" were eliminated, but as a compromise, the paragraph was replaced by a "ban to spread information that would promote sexual relations or other conceptions of concluding a marriage or creating a family other than established in the Constitution or the Civil Code". It has been argued that this provision is the first step towards instituting a ban on criticizing the Government and its decisions and is thus a menace to democracy in the country. Proponents of the law claimed to be led by a desire to protect traditional family and children. Some of them have expressed an opinion that the law would ban any information in public about homosexuality, regardless of its accessibility to minors or ban any public discussions and LGBT-related events. (So we propose to establish a limit that the promotion in public places is not possible to protect the mentioned three articles of the Constitution, but without doubt in some interior premises those people have the right to organize events, to promote, to discuss) The new version was signed by the President, satisfied that "the homophobic provisions [had] been repealed".
Significantly, the same law forbade mocking and bullying on the grounds of sexual orientation. It also possessed a number of other amendments, such as prohibiting the promotion of unhealthy nutrition to minors, information that "profanes family values", and the depiction of hypnosis.
The amendment was sometimes compared to Section 28, the act which prohibited discussion of homosexuality in British schools.
During its existence, there were several attempts to apply the anti-LGBTQ provisions of the law. It was unsuccessfully cited to ban the Gay Pride parade in 2010, and in 2013, and successfully referenced to declare one advertisement related to the Vilnius Gay Pride 2013 as appropriate to be broadcast at night time only and with the adult content logo. The reason given by the Board of Experts of Journalism Ethics Inspector Service was that one person in the advertisement had a T-shirt with an inscription in Lithuanian "For the diversity of families". In their opinion, it encouraged a different conception of family and marriage than established in Lithuanian laws.
In 2014, based on similar grounds, the same institution recommended restricting the distribution of a children's book of tales titled "Gintarinė širdis" ("Amber Heart") published by the Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences, because two stories in it were related to same-sex relationships. The Board ordered the book to be labelled "Not suitable for children under 14 years" and referring to this recommendation, the Ministry of Culture banned the book altogether. The case have been escalated to the European Court of Human Rights in November 2019, and was heard by the Grand Chamber on 23 March 2022. In January 2023, the Court ruled that the government's actions were in violation of article 10, the right to freedom of expression, of the treaty.
In 2014, a video clip of a gay rights organisation promoting tolerance towards LGBT people was refused to air by all major Lithuanian TV stations despite not having any overt sexuality-related content, fearing a potential breach of the Law on the Protection of Minors. The breach was later unanimously confirmed by the Board of Experts of Journalism Ethics Inspector Service.