It goes without saying that international travel is challenging these days. But gay travelers face the added complexity of navigating a myriad of LGBTQ+ laws around the world. Depending on where they’re headed, travel can still be considerably dangerous—even in 2021.
And although there have been some improvements over recent years, more than 70 countries still have homophobic laws, according to Equaldex.
Journalists Lyric and Asher Fergusson run a travel safety blog and recently authored an up-to-date report on the most dangerous—and safest—places for LGBTQ+ travelers based on nine factors, like legalized same-sex marriage and protections against discrimination. After 250+ hours of research, the duo reviewed all countries’ individual laws and gathered data from trusted international sources to create an LGBTQ+ Travel Safety Index that reflects the most current information in an ever-evolving world.
Since the Fergussons’ study on the most dangerous places for gay travelers in 2019, several laws have changed—some for the better (Sudan), and some for the worse (Hungary, Poland). “LGBTQ+ rights are still at the forefront of our awareness and we plan to continue keeping this study up to date to help the LGBTQ+ community stay safe and navigate international travel,” says Lyric Fergusson.
