LGBTQ rights in Africa

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Africa are generally lacking, especially in comparison to much of the Americas, Europe and Oceania. There are an estimated fifty million Africans who are not heterosexual.

As of April 2025, homosexuality is outlawed in 31 of the 54 African states recognised by the United Nations. In Eswatini, Kenya, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Togo, only male homosexuality is criminalised. In Egypt, despite no law explicitly criminalising homosexual acts, the state uses several morality provisions for the de facto criminalization of homosexual conduct.

According to the Human Rights Watch, in Benin and the Central African Republic, whilst homosexuality itself is not illegal, there are discriminatory laws specifically targeting homosexual acts. In former British colonies, including Kenya and Nigeria, laws criminalising homosexuality are typically traceable to the colonial era. In states where homosexuality is legal, there is often little to no discrimination protection for homosexuals in areas such as employment.

Homosexuality has never been criminalised in Benin, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Djibouti, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Madagascar, Niger, and Rwanda. It has been decriminalised in Angola, Botswana, Cape Verde, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, São Tomé and Príncipe, Seychelles, and South Africa. However, in six of these countries (Benin, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Congo, Niger, and Madagascar), the age of consent is higher for same-sex sexual relations than for opposite-sex ones. As of April 2025, Namibia is the most recent country in Africa to decriminalise homosexuality.

In November 2006, South Africa became the first country in Africa and the fifth country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage. In May 2023, the Supreme Court of Namibia ruled foreign same-sex marriages must be recognised equally to heterosexual marriages. Spanish, Portuguese, British, and French overseas territories in Africa have legalised same-sex marriage. LGBTQ anti-discrimination laws exist in ten African countries: Angola, Botswana, Cape Verde, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, São Tomé and Príncipe, Seychelles, and South Africa.

In recent years, although many countries have made process with decriminalisation, some countries in which homosexuality is illegal have introduced harsher penalties. Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023, which permits the use of capital punishment for certain types of consensual same-sex activities, has garnered significant international attention.

Since 2011, some developed countries have implemented, or considered implementing, laws limiting or prohibiting general budget support to countries that restrict the rights of LGBTQ people. Rather than fueling the granting of greater LGBTQ rights, in some areas, this has exacerbated homophobic sentiments. Past African leaders such as Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and Uganda's Yoweri Museveni have claimed that homosexuality is an "un-African" import from Europe. However, most scholarship and research demonstrate that homosexuality has long been a part of various African cultures.