{"id":47,"area":"Asia","region_name":"Lebanon","iso_2":"LB","region_sub":null,"legal_code_title":"Penal Code of 1943","legal_code_title_citation_1":"Text of the law is available at: https://wipolex.wipo.int/en/details.jsp?id=6653","legal_code_title_citation_2":null,"legal_code_body":"Article 534 - “Any sexual intercourse against nature is punished with up to one year of imprisonment.”\n\nArticle 532 - “The exposing of public morals by any of the ways mentioned in paragraphs 2 or 3 of Article 209 shall be punished with imprisonment from one month to one year and a fine from 20,000 Lira to 100,000 Lira. \n\nArticle 209 - “The making or possession, importing or attempts to import for trade, distribution, for payment, copying, exhibition or display or attempts to display to the public, or for selling or attempts to sell, or distribution or engaged in the distribution of each publication, an editor or a drawing or a declaration or pictures or paintings or photographs, or the origin of the image or its template or produced anything in breach of modesty shall be punished with imprisonment from imprisonment from one month to one year and a fine from 20,000 Lira to 100,000 Lira.”","legal_code_body_citation_1":null,"legal_code_body_citation_2":null,"legal_code_body_citation_3":null,"legal_code_body_citation_4":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments":"In 2010, at Lebanon’s 1st cycle UPR, Norway recommended they decriminalise and “ensure non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity”, the response to which was ‘noted’ (refused). The organisation Helem offer an analysis of the criminalising law. However, it is reported that in March 2014, a court read down Article 534 by ruling in favour of a transgender woman and her male partner. In contrast, in August 2014, it is reported that 27 men were arrested at a Hammam allegedly for same-sex sexual behaviour. \nAt the Interactive Dialogue session in Lebanon’s 2nd cycle UPR in November 2015, the delegation, in response to the six strong recommendations that the State received said: “As for sexual orientation, although article 534 of the Penal Code stated that sexual intercourse contrary to nature was punishable, two court decisions had indicated that article 534 did not apply to homosexuals [referring to the above]. The judiciary had played an important role in preventing and opposing acts of violence or discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons”. Public attitudes to LGBT people in Lebanon are caught in an excellent report produced in 2015, and an October 2016 short animated video advises on the rights a person who is arrested can assert. \nIn its Concluding Observations on Lebanon in October 2016, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) addresses issues of discrimination based on SOGI, recommending the State adopts a legal framework for combatting discrimination, enshrines the principle in the Constitution, conducts campaigns to combat prejudices and stigmatisation and establishes mechanisms to ensure victims can seek effective remedies. \nIn reference to the 2014 case mentioned above, in January 2017 the Court of Cassation (the highest court in Lebanon) looked at the reasoning of the lower court and found in favour of it. The question of what comprises ‘natural’ in human sexuality was central to the issue.","legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_1":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_2":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_3":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_4":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_5":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_6":null,"legal_code_scruff_comments":null,"prison_term_min_length":null,"prison_term_max_length":1,"prison_term_notes":null,"prison_term_not_specified":null,"prison_term_years":true,"prison_term_life":null,"prison_term_mandatory":null,"fine_min_amount":null,"fine_max_amount":null,"fine_currency":null,"fine_notes":null,"fine_not_specified":null,"fine_amount":null,"fine_mandatory":null,"penalty_death":false,"penalty_death_notes":null,"penalty_corporal_punishment":null,"penalty_corporal_punishment_notes":null,"penalty_hard_labor":null,"penalty_hard_labor_notes":null,"penalty_banishment":null,"legal_code_explicitly_references_same_sex_acts":null,"legal_code_explicitly_references_acts_against_nature":true,"legal_code_differentiates_anal_sex_from_other_acts":null,"legal_code_indicates_hiv_as_aggravating_factor":null,"legal_code_indicates_age_of_consent_homosexual_acts_over_18":null,"existing_laws_used_to_target_gays_but_not_anti_gay":null,"islamic_sharia_law":null,"islamic_sharia_law_notes":null,"laws_subregional_variance_or_contradiction":null,"laws_subregional_variance_or_contradiction_notes":null,"laws_not_specifically_homophobic":null,"laws_status_unclear":null,"laws_status_unclear_notes":null,"persecution_non_state_agents":null,"criminalization_under_consideration":null,"recently_decriminalized":null,"propaganda_law_under_consideration":null,"propaganda_law_title":null,"propaganda_law_title_citation_1":null,"propaganda_law_body":null,"propaganda_law_body_citation_1":null,"propaganda_law_ilga_comments":null,"legal_developments_2023_2024_summary":"Nine MPs filed a bill (17 July 2023) to repeal Penal Code Art. 534; signatories faced online harassment and at least one withdrew support. In response, the Ministry of Culture and, separately, MP Ashraf Rifi each filed rival bills to further criminalise 'promotion' of homosexuality (1-3 years plus fines). None had passed as of report cutoff.","legal_developments_2023_2024_citations":"ILGA World, Laws On Us: A Global Overview of Legal Progress and Backtracking on SOGIESC, 1st Ed. (Geneva, May 2024), p.29, 55-56.","status_change_type":"Competing bills: decriminalization bill filed, faced backlash; rival criminalization bills also filed (none enacted)"}