Are You Thinking of Travel?
Unsafe Countries For Queer Family Travel
Before you start planning that big trip with the family, do your research and know your countries well.
Let’s be clear not all places are queer friendly. There are 66 countries and territories that you need to be mindful of and that criminalise LGBTQ+ identities, according to the Human Dignity Trust. All of these countries criminalise men and 41 criminalise women. Here is the list:
ASIA
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Afghanistan |
Bangladesh |
Brunei |
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Indonesia |
Iran |
Iraq |
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Kuwait |
Lebanon |
Malaysia |
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Maldives |
Myanmar |
Oman |
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Pakistan |
Palestine |
Qatar |
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Saudi Arabia |
Sri Lanka |
Syria |
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Turkmenistan |
United Arab Emirates |
Uzbekistan |
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Yemen |
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AFRICA
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Algeria |
Burundi |
Cameroon |
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Chad |
Comoros |
Egypt |
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Eritrea |
Eswatini |
Ethiopia |
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Ghana |
Guinea |
Kenya |
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Liberia |
Libya |
Malawi |
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Mauritania |
Mauritius |
Morocco |
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Namibia |
Nigeria |
Senegal |
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Sierra Leone |
Somalia |
South Sudan |
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Sudan |
Tanzania |
The Gambia |
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Togo |
Tunisia |
Uganda |
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Zambia |
Zimbabwe |
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CARIBBRAN AND THE AMERICAS
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Dominica |
Grenada |
Guyana |
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Jamaica |
Saint Lucia |
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines |
I’m not going to go into an in-depth discussion on these places or countries, please visit the Human Dignity Trust for more information. I just want you to be aware of which places you need to do more research on before you take your family to visit.
Even though Indonesia is on the list, we took our kids to Bali last year for Christmas.
It is well known that Bali is like the go to place for Aussies, it’s close and it’s affordable. Will do an itinerary, places we stayed and what we did when we were there. We found it a good introduction country for our first overseas trip with our kids.
Remember to do you research and plan your trip. Be well informed of the legalities of where you are visiting. Below is the map of these LGBTQ+ criminalised countries from Human Dignity Trust please visit their website for more information.
The Safest LGBTQ Family Friendly Country
When I started researching safest countries for our family to visit an article in Forbes Lifestyle Travel caught my eye. 20 safest countries for LGBTQ+ travellers, I was curious and alarmed that there was only 20 countries out of the world that ranked as a safe place for us to visit.
Laura stated that Canada ranks at the top of the 2023 list as the most LGBTQ friendly country on earth for the third year in a row.
“Canada has a great legislative track record for LGBTQ+ rights,” says Fergusson. “They were one of the first countries to legalize same-sex marriage, they have constitutional anti-discrimination protections and the majority of Canadians report that it is a safe place to live for gay and lesbian people.” (Laura Begley Bloom, Mar 7, 2023, Forbes Lifestyle Travel) (Asher Fergusson, LGBT Travel Safety)
Asher and Lyric are researches in the travel space, they have done a deep dive into researching country by country, reviewing individual laws and gathered data, putting in over 400 hours of time to provide us with the safest and the worst places for LGBTQ+ travellers. Their report is called “The 203 Worst (and Safest) Countries for LGBTQ+ Travel in 2023”. I encourage you to go check out the countries you intend on taking your LGBTQ+ family travelling too for a quick glance at their legal laws in that place. Always remember to be safe while travelling, know the social and cultural customs of each country you visit. When travelling with kids, be well informed and if they are of an age to know and understand make sure to communicate with them the travel awareness. We are taking our kids to United Kingdom and Europe for the first time. Travelling as an LGBTQ+ family we need to be more vigilant in how we present and where and when it is ok to be ourselves. I was so excited to come across such great information about LGBTQ+ travel.
