COVER PHOTO CREDIT: fneitzke on VisualHunt.com
You may already know what I have a bone to pick with people who overgeneralize about Latin America. As I noted in a previous post about 16 Latin American Countries that are Safer Than the USA, the vast region that includes Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean is incredibly diverse, and it’s impossible to apply any general statement about safety and security to the entire area. People who are nervous about visiting one part of a country because of negative news from another part might as well avoid Denver because of a shooting in Chicago.
With that in mind, I was very interested to review the latest LGBTQ+ Danger Index, from Asher & Lyric, a couple of travelers whose blog aims to help people travel more safely and intelligently. They gathered data from a variety of sources about everything from the legality of same-sex marriage to legal protection from discrimination, adoption recognition and worker protection. The result is a fascinatingly informative picture of today’s world and each country’s current level of LGBTQ friendliness.
While the index surveys the entire globe, I of course focused in on Latin America, and I was especially surprised to see that several Latin American nations rank better than many European destinations.
It’s not surprising that progressive Sweden is the best-ranking global destination. Uruguay and Colombia are the top nations in Latin America in terms of LGBTQ friendliness and equality. And here’s where it gets interesting: those two South American nations score better than Germany and the United States. Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Bolivia meanwhile, score better than Switzerland, Greece, Israel and Montenegro. Peru is more progressive than Italy, according to the index. And Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica and even Venezuela do better for LGBTQ people than the Philippines, Hong Kong, South Korea, Poland and India. Panama, meanwhile, does a better job at treating people equally than Thailand. The Dominican Republic outscores Japan (as do all of the other nations mentioned earlier).
Even the bottom-ranking Latin American nations — Guatemala, Paraguay and Cuba — still score better than Monaco, Turkey, Ukraine, Aruba, Belize, the Cayman Islands, Curaçao, China, Russia and Singapore when it comes to offering more equal treatment and legal rights for LGBTQ people.
To put it in a quick list, here are Latin American nations, ranked from best to worst in terms of their treatment of LGBTQ people. I’ve inserted a few popular tourism and vacation destinations from other regions of the world, just do provide some perspective — but I encourage you to visit the full listing.
- Sweden (safest worldwide for LGBTQ travelers and residents)
- Uruguay (safest in Latin America for LGBTQ travelers and residents)
- Colombia
- Germany
- United States
- Puerto Rico
- Brazil
- Ecuador
- Mexico
- Argentina
- Chile
- Czech Republic
- Bolivia
- Switzerland
- Greece
- Israel
- Honduras
- Montenegro
- Peru
- Italy
- Nicaragua
- El Salvador
- Costa Rica
- Venezuela
- Philippines
- Hong Kong
- South Korea
- Poland
- India
- Panama
- Thailand
- Dominican Republic
- U.S. Virgin Islands
- Japan
- Guatemala
- Paraguay
- Vietnam
- Trinidad & Tobago
- Cuba (least safe in Latin America for LGBTQ travelers and residents)
- Nigeria (least safe in the world for LGBTQ travelers and residents)
The bottom line: next time you’re considering which vacation destinations are the friendliest for LGBTQ travelers, don’t assume. Do your research, and you may be surprised with what you find.