1998 in LGBT rights

Events

 * Chile decriminalises homosexuality for people over 18, however the heterosexual age of consent is 14.

August

 * August 1 - The fifth Gay Games, Friendship '98, kicks off in Amsterdam with 14,700 participants.

December

 * December 22 - New Zealand - Tuariki Delamere, Minister of Immigration, announces equality for gay and lesbian couples applying for permanent residency, to take effect on March 29, 1999.

Deaths

 * October 21 - Matthew Shepard, 21, American gay-bashing victim