Understanding politics across borders and divides
Published: July 29, 2026 Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal ruled on 28 July that the government regulation allowing registry offices to record foreign same-sex marriages is unconstitutional. The government’s response was that the body issuing the ruling is not a court, that what it produced is therefore not a judgment, and that nothing in Polish law has … Read more
Last Updated: July 2026 Overview Asia contains the widest legal range on this issue of any world region. Thailand’s marriage equality law took effect on 23 January 2025, making it the third jurisdiction in Asia to recognize same-sex marriage after Taiwan and Nepal. Brunei retains Sharia provisions prescribing death by stoning, and Afghanistan under Taliban … Read more
Last Updated: July 2026 Overview Africa is moving in two directions at once on this issue, and any account that describes only one of them is incomplete. Roughly 32 of 54 African states criminalize consensual same-sex conduct, and several have tightened their laws since 2023, with Uganda adding capital and life sentences and Ghana passing … Read more
Overview LGBTQ+ rights split the world roughly in two. Consensual same-sex activity is legal in about 130 UN member states and criminalised in more than 60, with the death penalty prescribed by law in 7. Marriage equality exists in 37 countries plus Taiwan. That is the shape of it: broad legality across most of the … Read more