The arc of the moral universe is long and (supposedly) bends toward justice, but it appears to be doing a loop-de-loop with regard to LGBTQ+ rights and safety worldwide.
That’s the conclusion of the 2026 LGBTQ Travel Safety Map from Safeture and Riskline. The map is updated each year based on an analysis of legal frameworks, social attitudes, destination intelligence, and data from nonprofits to assess travel risk across 233 destinations.
“With 67 countries still criminalizing same-sex relations, travel policies should reflect this reality. For LGBTQ travelers, these figures translate into real legal, cultural, and in some cases physical risk,” said Lorena Peña of Riskline in the report.
That sentiment is echoed by Booking.com’s 2026 Travel Proud Research report, which finds that 44% of LGBTQ+ travelers are taking more precautions than they took a few years ago. A strong majority of the survey’s global respondents also choose to conceal their identities on the road, with only 31% of LGBTQ+ folks saying they’re out when they travel.
The new Riskline map identifies 91 countries with high safety concerns and 62 with elevated concerns. The remaining 80 nations are tagged as “normal.”
The Middle East and North Africa pose the highest risks for LGBTQ+ visitors, according to the map, with the vast majority of countries in those regions classified as high concern. Only Lebanon and Israel merit elevated and normal ratings, respectively.
Sub-Saharan Africa sees almost 80% of destinations rated high concern, while Western Europe is marked the safest region, as in previous years.
Here are the biggest changes in 2026, as identified by Riskline.
North America and the Caribbean
The United States government has rolled back rights and protections for trans and nonbinary individuals, both at the state and federal levels. One of the most direct challenges to travelers has been the Trump administration’s move to rescind trans and nonbinary travelers’ ability to self-identify on their passports, a decision upheld by the Supreme Court.
The State Department also removed references to trans people on web pages dedicated to LGBTQ+ travelers, now just “gay and lesbian” travelers.
In the North American progress column, on the other hand, Riskline notes that the island nation of St. Lucia decriminalized same-sex relations when the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court recently struck down laws punishing “gross indecency” and “buggery.”
Africa
LGBTQ+ rights and safety have suffered setbacks in several African countries, according to Riskline. Senegal dramatically increased its criminal punishment for same-sex couples, and Burkina Faso introduced the country’s first laws criminalizing homosexuality with fines and prison.
There have, however, been shifts in the other direction. Botswana, for example, officially repealed its anti-sodomy laws, first put in place under British colonial rule.
Asia
In Japan, the Tokyo High Court decided a ban on same-sex marriage is constitutional, reversing earlier court rulings that favored LGBTQ+ rights.
And India passed a bill that rolled back rights for trans people that had been awarded in 2014.
Europe and Eurasia
New restrictions have likewise emerged in Eastern Europe and Eurasia. Slovakia passed legislation to, among other things, allow adoption only for married heterosexual couples and to recognize only male and female genders.
Countries including Kazakhstan and Belarus, meanwhile, have begun cracking down on LGBTQ+ expression under the guise of fighting “propaganda.”
However, LGBTQ+ travelers are “unlikely to face difficulties” in any of the countries of Western Europe, according to the map. Local attitudes are “overall open and progressive” there, as well as in many other tourism heavy hitters across the globe, including Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, and South Africa.
All of those are still shaded green on the map, indicating they’re reasonably safe for LGBTQ+ travelers.
To get a closer look at the map and read the whole report, go to Safeture.com.
