(ZEROHEDGE) – In order to help LGBTQ+ tourists travel safely, the German portal Spartacus started publishing the Gay Travel Index in 2012. In the 2024 edition, the ranking compared 213 countries and territories based on the situation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer people in each location.
As Statista’s Anna Fleck reports, according to the index, last year’s leading destination Malta is joined at the top by Spain, Canada, New Zealand and Portugal as the safest and most open places for LGBT+ travelers in 2024, with each of these five countries receiving 12 points. According to the report, Estonia made the greatest improvements in the past year, obtaining 6 points (in contrast to the previous index’s 2 points). This was thanks to the approval of the law in 2023 to legalize equal marriage. The first Latin American country to appear in the 2024 ranking is Uruguay, sharing the third position along with Denmark, Iceland, Germany and Norway, with 10 points each.
At the other end of the spectrum come Saudi Arabia, Iran, the Republic of Chechnya in Russia and Afghanistan, all with a score of -21 points, signaling that they are dangerous countries for LGBT+ travelers, where homosexuals are persecuted and killed. Russia too features far down this list (-17 points), having once again “significantly tightened its anti-LGBT+ legislation and equates the movement with extremist organizations.”
