Editing LGBT rights in Tuvalu

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{{Use Australian English|date=June 2023}}

| penalty = Up to 14 years imprisonment ([[unenforced law|not enforced]], legalisation proposed)

| gender_identity_expression = No

| recognition_of_relationships_restrictions = Same-sex marriage constitutionally banned since 2023<ref name="CofT23"/>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Tuvalu face legal difficulties not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Sections 153, 154 and 155 of the Penal Code outlaw male homosexual intercourse with a penalty of up to 14 years in prison, but the law is [[unenforced law|not enforced]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tuvalu-legislation.tv/cms/images/LEGISLATION/PRINCIPAL/1965/1965-0007/PenalCode_1.pdf|title=Tuvalu Penal Code|work=Tuvalu Legislation}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.globalgayz.com/oceania/tuvalu/gay-tuvalu-news-and-reports/|title=Gay Tuvalu News & Reports|website=GlobalGayz|date=11 October 2011}}</ref> Employment discrimination on the basis of [[sexual orientation]] has been banned since 2017. Since 2023, the [[Constitution of Tuvalu]] has banned same-sex marriage.

[[Tuvalu]] is home to a traditional [[transgender]] population, called the {{lang|tvl|[[pinapinaaine]]}}, or ''pina'', who historically played certain societal and communal roles.<ref name="AIDS16"/><ref name="NGO1">{{cite web |last= |first= |work=United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) |title=Pacific Multi-Country Mapping and Behavioural Study: HIV and STI Risk Vulnerability among Key Populations – Tuvalu |date=2016 |url=https://www.undp.org/pacific/publications/pacific-multicountry-mapping-behavioural-study-key-findings |accessdate=4 December 2023}}</ref>

Prejudices towards same-sex relationships and transgender people are not documented before the arrival of Christian missionaries in the late 19th and early 20th century. In the pre-colonial era [[Polynesia]] societies, such a [[LGBT rights in Samoa|Samoa]], were a very "sexually free" cultures.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/men-women-pacific|title=The men-women of the Pacific|work=Tate.org|date=1 September 2010|last=Gauguin|first=Paul}}</ref>

In Tuvalu, people who are assigned male at birth but live and behave as women are called {{lang|tvl|pinapinaaine}}, or ''pina'', and historically had certain societal roles, such as basket weaving. They were also known for their talent to elaborate dance ceremonies.<ref name="Health">{{cite web|url=https://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/country/documents/TUV_narrative_report_2016.pdf|title=Global AIDS Progress Report of Tuvalu|date=2016|website=UNAIDS|access-date=29 November 2017}}</ref> The Tuvalu Pina Association was established in 2015. The role of the organisation is to advocate for the rights of pina. The association has 15 members, who are members of two informal pina groups.<ref name="NGO1"/>

==Constitution of Tuvalu==

The 2023 amendments to the [[Constitution of Tuvalu|Constitution]] do not provide for the recognition of LGBT rights in Tuvalu. The freedom from discrimination in section 27, describes discrimination as referring to the treatment of different people in different ways wholly or mainly because of their different sex (among other protected attributes),<ref name="CofT23">{{cite web| last = | first = |title= Constitution of Tuvalu |publisher= Government of Tuvalu|page=|year = 5 September 2023|url= https://tuvalu-legislation.tv/cms/images/LEGISLATION/PRINCIPAL/1986/1986-0001/ConstitutionofTuvalu_2.pdf | accessdate=27 November 2023}}</ref> and does not refer freedom from discrimination in respect to [[sexual orientation]].

The 2023 amendments to the Constitution also set out the Charter of Duties and Responsibilities. However, the only statement as to relationships is to “a family unit, which shall comprise a marriage as between a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others”, in Section 43(2)(b).<ref name="CofT23"/>

Any person who attempts to commit any of the offences specified in the last preceding section, or who is guilty of any assault with intent to commit the same,

or any indecent assault upon any male person shall be guilty of a felony, and shall be liable to imprisonment for 7 years.

Any male person who, whether in public or private, commits any act of gross indecency with another male person, or procures another male person to commit any

According to 2017 estimates from [[Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS|UNAIDS]], there were about 300 [[men who have sex with men]] (MSM) in the country, and about 40 {{lang|tvl|pinapinaaine}} (transgender people).<ref name="AIDS16">{{cite web|url=https://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/country/documents/TUV_2017_countryreport.pdf|title=Country factsheets: Tuvalu 2017|work=UNAIDS}}</ref>

| [[File:X mark.svg|15px|No]] (For males, not enforced, legalization proposed)/[[File:Yes check.svg|15px|Yes]] (For females)

| [[File:X mark.svg|15px|No]] (Consitutional ban since 2023)

| [[List of countries without armed forces|Has no military]]

* [[Law of Tuvalu]]

* [[LGBT rights in the Commonwealth of Nations]]

[[Category:LGBT rights in Oceania by country|Tuvalu]]

[[Category:Law of Tuvalu]]

[[Category:Human rights in Tuvalu]]