Guatemala

In Guatemala, LGBTIQ individuals face significant legal and social challenges. Same-sex sexual activity is legal, but the country does not legally recognize same-sex couples and trans people’s gender identities, leaving sexual and gender minorities without essential rights. The penal code prohibits discrimination based on an open-ended list of grounds, including gender, but does not explicitly mention sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or sex characteristics. In 2021, Human Rights Watch found that there were “no recorded cases in which anyone has been convicted of discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity.” Further, intersex people are not protected from medical abuse.

The political climate has been increasingly shaped by anti-gender ideologies, with conservative groups exerting influence across government institutions. In 2022, Congress attempted to pass the “Life and Family Protection Law,” which seeks to ban same-sex marriage and restrict education on sexual and gender diversity. The bill was ultimately shelved following public backlash. However, legislative efforts to restrict LGBTIQ people’s human rights persist, including attempts to ban educational materials on transgender identities. Anti-gender actors have also perpetuated a climate where conversion practices are normalized, with many of these practices being carried out by mental health professionals. Right-wing activists online have sought to incite panic through accusations claiming school textbooks include “gender ideology.” 

Despite the election of a new government with more progressive stances in 2024, Guatemala’s Congress remains predominantly conservative, and no significant initiatives to advance LGBTIQ people’s human rights have been put forward. In August 2025, the Parliamentary Front for Religious Freedom of the Congress of Guatemala, together with the Family Matters Association and the Political Network for Values, hosted the “Meeting for Religious Freedom, Life and Family” in the Guatemalan Congress to advance a socially conservative, anti-LGBTIQ, and anti-abortion agenda as part of the nation’s identity and development. Congress members from right-wing political blocs have established an alliance with conservative civil society groups to “defend religious freedom, life, and the family.”