Kuwait

Demographics

Estimated Total Population:

4.2 million

World Bank, 2019

Estimated SGM Population:

N/A

N/A

Estimated Total SGM Adult Population:

N/A

N/A

Estimated % of SGM Adults (18+):

N/A

N/A

There are no national estimates of sexual and gender minorities in Kuwait. There are number of laws prosecuting sexual and gender minorities in Kuwait, and the Kuwaiti government occasionally partakes in investigations and arrests of suspected sexual and gender minorities. Homosexuals are prosecuted under the "debauchery law," a penal code containing general provisions against immorality (Smith, 2016). Article 198 criminalizes "imitating the appearance of a member of the opposite sex" and imposes fines, imprisonment, and arbitrary restrictions upon individuals' rights to privacy and free expression (Smith, 2016). More recently, in 2013 an official of the Kuwait Health Ministry reported to a local newspaper that the Kuwaiti government was developing a "medical test" to identify sexual minorities to prevent them from entering Kuwait (Scull, 2017).

Kuwait's Laws and Policies from ILGA World Report (2019)

RECOGNITION
Marriage for Same-Sex Couples
No
Civil Unions
No
Joint Adoption
No
Second Parent Adoption
No
PROTECTION
Employment Nondiscrimination Laws
No
Broad Protections
No
Criminalization of Violence
No
Ban of Conversion Therapy
No
CRIMINALIZATION
Consensual Same-Sex Acts are Legal?
No
Gender
Male Only
Max Penalty (Yrs in Prison) - over age 21
7
Max Penalty (Yrs in Prison) - under age 21
10*

*Kuwait's `gay tests` aimed at keeping LGBT expats out of gulf. (2013, Oct 11). Free Press Journal

Selected Published Studies, Reports, and Other Documents

Studies:

Scull, N. C., & Mousa, K. (2017). A Phenomenological Study of Identifying as Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual in an Islamic Country. SexualityandCulture, 21(4), 1215+. https://link-gale-com.proxy.lib.duke.edu/apps/doc/A511174626/AONE?u=duke_perkins&sid=AONE&xid=1292c551

Reports:

Human Rights Watch. (2012). They HuntUs Down for Fun: Discrimination and Police Violence Against Transgender Women in Kuwait. Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/kuwait0112ForUpload.pdf

Wong, T. (2016). The Secret Life of the Queer Muslim: An In-Depth Cross Cultural Analysis of Repression. Senior Projects Spring 2016. 403. https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1172&context=senproj_s2016

Articles:

Hillier, B. (2020). This trans woman sparked Kuwait’s biggest LGBTQ movement in history. The World. https://www.pri.org/stories/2020-06-17/trans-woman-sparked-kuwaits-biggest-lgbtq-movement-history

Smith, C. B. (2016). Caught up in Kuwait: was a Lesbian couple's imprisonment the matter of a bungled drug trial, or were they locked up for being gay? TheAdvocate, (1085), 30+. https://link-gale-com.proxy.lib.duke.edu/apps/doc/A454783167/ITOF?u=duke_perkins&sid=ITOF&xid=cdf6fe6f

Younes, R. (2020). Kuwaiti Transgender Woman’s Video Sparks Worldwide Solidarity. The Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/06/10/kuwaiti-transgender-womans-video-sparks-worldwide-solidarity