2002 in LGBT rights

Events

 * Sweden legalizes adoption for same-sex couples, making Sweden's registered partnership nearly identical to marriage, with the exception of right to marriage in a church.

April

 * April 28 - Homosexuality is decriminalized in China, as the newly amended Marriage Law avoids this topic.

May

 * May 6 - Openly gay Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn is assassinated by Volkert van der Graaf.
 * May 10 - Canadian gay teenager Marc Hall wins an injunction permitting him to bring his boyfriend to his prom.

August

 * Austria's Article 209 of the Penal Code was removed equalising the age of consent at 14.

September

 * September 4 - Hungary - The Constitutional Court has repealed the § 199 of the penal code so the age of consent has been equal for both heterosexual and homosexual activity at 14.
 * September 22 - Switzerland - Voters in the canton of Zurich voted 63% to 37% to give same-sex couples the same legal rights as married opposite-sex couples. This includes tax, inheritance, and social security benefits. These rights are only given to same-sex couples who live in Zurich canton and who register with the government, promising to live together and support each other for six months.

November

 * November 2
 * Australia
 * The sixth Gay Games, Under New Skies, kicks off in Sydney, Australia with 12,100 participants.

Deaths

 * October 24 (San Francisco, California) - Harry Hay, 90, leader of the gay rights movement in the United States, co-founder of the Mattachine Society and the Radical Faeries.