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Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Armenia are not legislated in both the legal and social spheres.

Homosexuality has been legal in Armenia since 2003. However, even though it has been decriminalized, the situation of local lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) citizens has not changed substantially. Many LGBT Armenians fear being socially outcast by their friends and families, causing them to keep their sexual orientation or gender identity secret. Recently, the LGBT community in Armenia has become better connected due to social media, although a sense of fear and a desire for anonymity remains due to the nation's conservative culture.

Homosexuality remains a taboo topic in many parts of Armenian society. In a 2012 study, 55% of correspondents in Armenian stated that they would cease their relationship with a friend or relative if they were to come out as gay. Furthermore, this study found that 70% of Armenians find LGBT people to be "strange." There is, moreover, no legal protection for LGBT persons whose human rights are violated regularly. Armenia has been ranked 47th out of 49 European countries for LGBT rights, with Russia and neighboring Azerbaijan taking the 48th and 49th positions, respectively. The younger generation of Armenians still remain very unknowledgeable about many LGBT issues, likely attributed to the family culture where young people live at home until they reach the primary goal for many Armenians, heterosexual marriage.

Many LGBT people claim to fear violence in their workplace or from their family, and therefore, are said to not file complaints of claimed human rights violations or of criminal offences.

Nevertheless, in 2017, Armenia became the second Asian country where same-sex marriages performed abroad are recognised. Additionally, in 2011, Armenia signed the "joint statement on ending acts of violence and related human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity" at the United Nations, condemning violence and discrimination against LGBT people.


Video LGBT rights in Armenia



Legality of same-sex sexual activity

Between 1920-1991, Armenia was part of the Soviet Union.

Until 2003, the legislation of Armenia followed the corresponding Section 121 from the former Soviet Union Penal Code, which only specifically criminalized anal intercourse between men. Lesbian and non-penetrative gay sex between consenting adults was not explicitly mentioned in the law as being a criminal offence.

The specific article of the Penal Code was 116, dating back to 1936, and the maximum penalty was 5 years.

The abolition of the anti-gay law along with the death penalty was among Armenia's pre-accession conditions to the Council of Europe back in 2001. In December 2002, the Azgayin Zhoghov (National Assembly) approved the new penal code in which the anti-gay article was removed. On 1 August 2003, President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan ratified it, bringing to an end the decades of repression against gay men in Armenia.

There were 7 prosecutions in 1996 and 4 in 1997 under the law (Amnesty International 1999 Report on Armenia); and 4 in 1999 (Opinion of the Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee of the Council of Europe on the accession of Armenia - Doc. 8756 - 6 June 2000).

In 2001, local human rights NGO "Helsinki Association" published via its website the story of a 20-year-old. In 1999, the young man was sentenced to 3 months of imprisonment for having sex with another man. He was the last condemned under Article 116. In his testimony, he denounced prison guard abuse and mistreatment but also the corrupted judge who shortened his sentence for a $US 1000 bribe. The mediatization of his case signed the first gay "coming out" in Armenia.

The age of consent is 16, regardless of gender and sexual orientation.


Maps LGBT rights in Armenia



Recognition of same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriage and civil unions are not legal in Armenia and the Constitution limits marriage to opposite-sex couples.

On 3 July 2017, the Ministry of Justice stated that all marriages performed abroad are valid in Armenia, including marriages between people of the same sex. That made Armenia the second country of the former Soviet Union, after Estonia, to recognise same-sex marriages performed abroad.


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Adoption and parenting

As of 2017, Armenia does not allow same-sex couples to adopt children and there is no known debate surrounding such legislation.


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Discrimination protections

Even though Armenia was the first nation in the region to endorse the UN declaration on sexual orientation and gender identity in December 2008, as of 2017, there is no legislation protecting LGBT persons from discrimination. Surveys show that 50% of people in Armenia would "walk away indifferently" if they were witnessing violence against an LGBT person, highlighting the strongly-embedded cultural belief against homosexuality.


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Military service

According to the Helsinki Rights Committee in Armenia, in 2004, an internal defence ministry decree effectively bans gay men from serving in the armed forces. In practice, gays are marked as "mentally ill" and sent to a psychiatrist.


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Living conditions

Following the abolition of the anti-gay law, some sporadic signs of an emerging LGBT rights movement were observed in Armenia. In October 2003, a group of 15 LGBT people gathered in Yerevan to set up an organization which was initially baptised GLAG (Gay and Lesbian Armenian Group). But after several meetings, the participants failed to achieve their goal.

In 1998, the Armenian Gay and Lesbian Association of New York was founded to support LGBT Diasporan Armenians.

In the fall of 2004, prompted by the announcement of Armen Avetisyan, founder of AAU (Armenian Aryan Union), an extreme right group, that some Armenian top officials were gay, various parliament members initiated heated debates that were broadcast over the public TV channel. Members of Parliament stated that any member found to be gay should resign - an opinion shared by the Presidential Advisor for National Security, Garnik Isagulyan.

In 2007, Pink Armenia, another NGO, emerged to promote public awareness on HIV and other STI (sexually transmitted infections) prevention but also to fight discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Pink conducts research on the status of LGBT people in Armenia, while working with other NGOs to combat homophobia.

In May 2012, suspected "Neo Nazis" launched two arson attacks at a lesbian-owned pub in Armenia's capital, Yerevan. Armenian News reported that in the second attack on 15 May, a group of young men arrived at the gay DIY Rock Pub around 6pm, where they burned the bar's "No to Fascism" poster and drew the Nazi Swastika on the walls. This rapidly followed a first attack earlier on 8 May, where a petrol bomb was thrown through the Rock Pub's window.

Freedom of speech and expression

In 2013, the Armenian police proposed a bill outlawing "non-traditional sexual relationships" and the promotion of LGBT "propaganda" to youth in a law similar to the Russian anti-gay law. Ashot Aharonian, a police spokesperson, stated that the bill was proposed due to the public's fear of the spreading of homosexuality. Furthermore, NGOs including Pink Armenia claimed that this was an attempt to distract the public from various sociopolitical issues within the country. The bill ultimately failed to pass.

Iravunk newspaper incident

On 17 May 2014, the Iravunk newspaper published an article with a list of dozens of people's Facebook accounts from the Armenian LGBT community, calling them "zombies" and accused them of serving the interest of the international homosexual lobby. The newspaper was sued and taken before the Armenian Court of Appeals, where the judges found that the newspaper did not offend anybody and ordered the plaintiffs to pay 50,000 AMD as compensation to the newspaper and its editor, Hovhannes Galajyan. Many see this in line with Armenia's step away from the European Union as it voted to join the Eurasian Economic Union primarily dominated by the largely homophobic Russia. The event was seen as highly discouraging to the LGBT rights movement in Armenia, yet it put Armenia in the international spotlight due to media coverage via social media.


Legislative Analysis Related to LGBT Rights and HIV in Eastern ...
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Summary table


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See also

  • Recognition of same-sex unions in Armenia
  • Human rights in Armenia
  • LGBT rights in Europe

սփյուռք Archives - PINK Armenia
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Notes


Legislative Analysis Related to LGBT Rights and HIV in Eastern ...
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External links

  • . Armenia Forced Out LGBT Shadow Report ICCPR-CCPR-Centre (2009, 82 pdfs) Prepared for the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association.
  • Human Rights Violations of LGBT People in Armenia: A Shadow Report (July 2012, 26 pdfs)
  • Official website of Pink Armenia
  • Official website of Menq/WFCE
  • GALAS (Gay And Lesbian Armenian Society) in Los Angeles, USA

Source of the article : Wikipedia

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