Being gay in Mongolia has been improved since the 1960’s, when being in a same sex relationship was seen as a crime. In the 1990’s Mongolia went through a peaceful transition from communism to a new democracy with homosexuality and LGBT awareness movements. Life has become easier and legal penalties have been set for hate crimes toward sexual orientation, gender identity and health status.
However same-sex households are not eligible for the same legal protection as opposite sex households and same sex marriages are still banned in Mongolia and relationships are not recognized. hate crimes are still very common and not reported to police, even if they are it’s often that no action will be taken towards it. In December 2015 the Mongolian Parliament adopted a new code covering hate crimes, including sexual orientation, gender identity and health status. This makes Mongolia the first Asian country to protect LGBT communities. However this means nothing in the country as being gay or transgender is seen as “A product of the West” and that it conflicts with Mongolian customs and traditions and sets the wrong example for Mongolian youth. This resulted in 73% of the LGBT community having considered suicide due to social nonacceptance. Several LGBT communities have been started but were also smothered by the government, since 2013 they are able to hold pride days and are trying to teach people about sexual diversity.
For more information, watch this inspiring video from Young Mongols
Genghis Khan ( ✝1227 ) , who was the Genghis Emperor of Mongolia, banned homosexual acts within the mongol empire and made the acts punishable by death. This was solely to try and improve the birthrate as the population was around 1.5 million people and the chinese rival of the song Dynasty was around 100 million. Even when the Khalka mongols came under control of the Qing Dynasty, these views were adopted and acts seen as homosexual were punished with a year in prison and 100 strikes with heavy bamboo.
If you want to know more about the LGBT+ community in Mongolia, please check their LGBT centre page
http://lgbtcentre.mn/en/home/
