LGBTQ rights in Kazakhstan
LGBTQ rights in Kazakhstan | |
|---|---|
| Legal status |
|
| Gender identity | Transgender people allowed to change legal gender following surgery, medical examinations, hormone therapy and sterilisation since 2003 |
| Military | Gays, lesbians and bisexuals allowed to serve in the military since 2022 |
| Discrimination protections | No law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation (see below) |
| Family rights | |
| Recognition of relationships | No recognition of same-sex couples |
| Restrictions | Code on Marriage and Family explicitly bans persons of the same sex from marrying each other. |
| Adoption | Adoption by single LGBT people is banned since 2024 |
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Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people in Kazakhstan face significant challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents. Both male and female kinds of same-sex sexual activity are legal in Kazakhstan, but same-sex couples and households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal protections available to opposite-sex married couples.
Since the Dissolution of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan decriminalised both male and female same-sex sexual activity in late 1997 de facto (since 1998 de jure) and the age of consent was equalised to that of heterosexual activity in late 1997 de facto (since 1998 de jure). Transgender people have been allowed to legally change their gender since 2003. LGBTQ people are also allowed to serve in the military since 2022. LGBTQ rights in Kazakhstan remain severely limited and homosexuality remains highly stigmatised in Kazakh society, with no LGBTQ NGOs, strong overtones of official intolerance and no equal rights on the basis of sexual orientation in areas such as employment, education, media, and the provision of goods and services, amongst others.
On 28 October 2025, the Mäjilis, Parliament's lower house, proposed a law explicitly prohibiting "LGBT propaganda", despite opposition from several international human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch. The legislation would ban "information containing propaganda of pedophilia and/or non-traditional sexual orientation" in both public spaces and the media. Violations would be punishable by a 10-day arrest and a fine. It was passed and signed by President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on 30 December 2025. Many critics have commented on its similarity to the 2013 Russian anti-LGBTQ law. As reported by CBS News and Reuters, in recent years, some countries including Georgia and the EU members Hungary and Bulgaria, have also passed anti-LGBTQ "propaganda" laws that observers say are inspired by Russia's. Kazakhstan is now among the countries prohibiting "LGBTQ propaganda" by law alongside Russia, Hungary, and Georgia.
Many LGBTQ individuals in Kazakhstan tend to hide their sexual orientation in public. Those who are "out" frequently face discrimination, stigmatization and violence.