LGBT+ top six stories in 2019

MILLIONS of people joined Pride marches around the world in 2019, and gay, bisexual and transgender rights were increasingly in the spotlight, with some countries legalising gay marriage while others mulled the death penalty for same-sex relations.

The year also marked the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots against police brutality in New York City, which triggered the modern movement for LGBT+ rights in Western countries.

Here are a few stories from a year of change for many LGBT+ people around the world:

◆ Brunei and Uganda death penalty for gay sex.

In March it was revealed that the small East Asian country of Brunei was planning to implement changes to its Islamic penal code that would impose death by stoning for same-sex intimacy.

After a global backlash, with businesses and celebrities such as George Clooney and Elton John boycotting companies owned by Brunei, the sultanate announced in May that a moratorium on the death penalty would be extended.

In October, a Ugandan minister said the nation was planning to reintroduce a bill colloquially known as “Kill the Gays”. The government denied that the death penalty would be imposed for gay sex following an international outcry.

◆ Gabon criminalises gay and lesbian sex.

In July, Gabon banned “sexual relations between people of the same sex”, introducing a penalty of up to six months in prison and a fine of 5 million CFA francs (R119 538).

◆ Kenya upholds gay sex ban. Kenya's high court upheld a British colonial-era law punishing gay sex with up to 14 years in jail in May, throwing out a petition by LGBT+ campaigners on the grounds that same-sex relations clashed with traditional moral values.

◆ Botswana legalises gay sex. In June, Botswana legalised samesex relations when the high court overturned a colonial-era law that had punished consensual gay sex with up to seven years in prison.

◆ Same-sex marriage spreads. Taiwan became the first place in Asia to legalise same-sex marriage in May, despite two-thirds of people voting in a referendum in November 2018 to retain the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman.

The self-ruled island was followed by Ecuador in June, with the South American nation becoming the 27th country in the world to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed.

◆ Trump's transgender military ban goes into effect.

The US implemented a law in April that banned openly trans people from enlisting in the military, with President Donald Trump stating that trans service members would cause “tremendous medical costs and disruption”.