Guide last updated by Hester Swift, July 2025
This guide was created by Hester Swift, Foreign & International Law Librarian, and Alfred Ye, former Graduate Trainee Library Assistant at IALS Library
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This guide provides information about sources for researching the law relating to sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics. It gives an overview of relevant material held at IALS Library and links to online resources.
LGBTQI+ stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex; the plus sign covers other identities. LGBTQI+ law does not fall into a single legal category: it may form part of family law, criminal law, labour law, immigration law, human rights law or other areas of law, depending on the jurisdiction. Sources of LGBTQI+ law include national legislation, court decisions and treaties, as well as soft law material such as recommendations, resolutions and guidance.
Updated UK legislation is available on Westlaw UK, Lexis+ UK and Legislation.gov.uk.
The most important statutes include:
Westlaw UK has a fuller list of legislation in its topic overview, ‘Sexuality and Gender', with links to each act or statutory instrument.
For a detailed description of the UK legal framework, including information about areas in which there are no legal barriers, or no legal protection, see the ILGA World database, provided by the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (also known as ILGA World). The database covers not just legislation, but also guidance, memoranda of understanding, codes of practice and law reform proposals (as well as a few cases - see below). Although the information is updated regularly, ILGA World's downloadable legislation is not always the current version: check Westlaw, Lexis or Legislation.gov.uk for updates.
Halsbury's Laws of England states the law of England and Wales on all subjects, and the Lexis+ online version has links to updated legislation. LGBTQ+ law is scattered across many different titles of Halsbury's, including Discrimination, Criminal Law, Rights and Freedoms, Registration Concerning the Individual, and Marriage and Civil Partnership Law.
To find court decisions on LGBTQI+ law and check that they are still good law, use Westlaw UK and/or Lexis (available to authorised users via the IALS Law Databases page):
Westlaw: select Cases Search and use key words such as sexual orientation, same sex partners, transgender identity, gender identity, non-binary persons and intersex. Results can be filtered by jurisdiction, authority (importance) and other criteria. Westlaw UK's 'Sexuality and Gender' topic overview lists recent cases concerning gender identity, with links to law reports and Westlaw's case citator; other relevant overviews include ‘Right to respect for private and family life: family life’, 'Employment: discrimination', ‘Transgender discrimination’, 'Marriage' and 'Discrimination in sport'.
Lexis: select Cases - Advanced Search, then use the Summary field to search for terms such as sexual orientation, homosexual, gender or intersex; results can be filtered by jurisdiction. Alternatively, search Halsbury's Laws (on Lexis+) for relevant areas of law and follow the links to cited cases.
Free sources of UK case transcripts include BAILII and Find Case Law. If you do not have access to Westlaw or Lexis, you can look up subsequent citations of a case using LawCite, a free AustLII service.
A few gender identity cases are cited on the UK page of the ILGA World database. Some downloadable judgments are available here, but they are transcripts, not formally-published law reports: to find law reports, use Westlaw or Lexis.
Books on equality law and LGBTQI+ rights (see below) also cite cases on these matters.
Some landmark cases are listed in Honor Hornsby and Kathryn Evans, 'History of LGBT Law in England & Wales' (Insights,Trethowans, June 2025).
The ILGA World Database sets out the law relating to sexual orientation, gender identity/expression and sex characteristics in all UN member states, many non-member states and sub-national jurisdictions. It provides the texts of laws and court decisions and links to UN documents and news reports. There are timelines and customisable maps, charts, graphs, and a comparison tool. The database is provided by ILGA World (the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association). ILGA World also publishes global surveys: State-sponsored Homophobia,Trans Legal Mapping Report and Laws on Us.
Outright International gives brief outlines of the law relating to LGBTQI+ people for all UN member states and a few non-member states, with some links to legislation.
The Human Dignity Trust provides detailed global coverage of criminal laws regarding sexual orientation and gender identity.
Human Rights Watch profiles LGBT rights in 132 jurisdictions and reports recent developments.
Foreign Law Guide: Current Sources of Codes and Basic Legislation in Jurisdictions of the World, published by Brill, cites legislation for each jurisdiction, including any available translations, and gives links to online sources. Relevant headings include Discrimination, Family, Civil and Criminal, depending on the jurisdiction. Authorised users can access Foreign Law Guide via the IALS Law Databases page.
Practical Law's Global Guides (on the Resources tab) cover family law - including same-sex marriage, civil partnership, and adoption - in over 60 jurisdictions; available to authorised users via the IALS Law Databases page.
Guides to researching the law of many individual jurisdictions are available from IALS Library, Globalex and Guide to Law Online.
International human rights law regarding sexual orientation and gender identity is outlined in:
The United Nations
The UN has appointed an independent expert on sexual orientation and gender identity, who publishes annual thematic reports and carries out country visits. Other UN human rights monitoring procedures, such as the Universal Periodic Review, also consider LGBTQI+ rights. Full details of UN human rights treaties and mechanisms are available from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights: OHCHR and the human rights of LGBTI people.
The ILGA World Database also has information about UN human rights treaties and monitoring procedures.
The UN's Dag Hammarskjöld Library has a research guide covering UN Human Rights Documentation.
Regional human rights systems
The Council of Europe makes recommendations and publishes reports on anti-LGBTQI+ discrimination and related issues. The European Court of Human Rights has heard many cases relating to the rights of LGBTQI+ people: cases are available on the HUDOC database. The court also publishes factsheets summarising its rulings on sexual orientation, criminal aspects of homosexuality, gender identity and other aspects of human rights law.
The European Union's Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) compiles information about the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union in its 'Charterpedia' and also provides a Case Law Database. FRA publications on LGBTQI+ issues are available on its Sex, sexual orientation and gender page.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has a Rapporteur on the Rights of LGTBI Persons and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has given rulings on these issues.
The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights adopted a resolution in 2014 calling for action against violence and other human rights violations 'on the basis of...real or imputed Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity' (ACHPR/Res.275 (LV) 2014); a ten-year review of the application of Resolution 275 was published by Synergia IHR and the Pan Africa ILGA in 2024. However, in 2018, the Commission withdrew observer status from the Coalition of African Lesbians (44th Activity Report [43]) and in 2022 it denied observer status to three NGOs 'on the grounds that sexual orientation is not an expressly recognized right or freedom under the African Charter, and contrary to the virtues of African values, as envisaged by the African Charter' ('Final Communiqué of the Seventy-Third Ordinary Session', 18 November 2022, [58]).
For general information about European, Inter-American, African and other regional human rights mechanisms, see:-
A selection of titles held at IALS Library are listed below; see Library Search for other books.
Africa
Asia
Commonwealth
Europe
United Kingdom
United States
Specialist titles are listed below, but many other law journals - particularly human rights journals - publish articles on LGBTQI+ matters: see the journal collections on Westlaw UK, Lexis, Westlaw International Materials, HeinOnline and other databases.
Duke Journal of Gender Law and Policy
Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law
GLQ: a Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies
Law & Sexuality: a Review of Lesbian and Gay Legal Issues
Michigan Journal of Gender & Law
International Bar Association. LGBTQI+ Law Committee: articles on developments in the law affecting LGBTQI+ communities around the world.
International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (also known as ILGA World):
Elizabeth Wells, 'LGBTI law' (Bodleian Law Library, University of Oxford): research guide covering treaties, international human rights law, cases, legislation, commentary and online resources; includes a list of books and links on intersexuality and gender identity.
LGBTQ+ Rights database (HeinOnline): collection of primary and secondary material on LGBTQ+ rights in the United States, with some coverage of other parts of the world; includes a timeline with links to key US cases and legislation.
Pan Africa ILGA: NGO publishing research reports and other material on LGBTQI+ rights in Africa.
Project 275/275 – One Resolution: project advocating for Resolution 275 of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, 'Protection against Violence and other Human Rights Violations against Persons on the basis of their real or imputed Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity'. The project's website compiles African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights documents mentioning LGBTQI+ issues and publishes monitoring reports.
Westlaw International has LGBTQ+ legal news for the United States in its Topical Highlight, 'Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Law'.
Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law: research centre focusing on sexual orientation and gender identity; the website provides a large collection of multidisciplinary policy papers, reports and briefings.