LGBT rights in Vatican City

The legal code regarding homosexuality in Vatican City is based on the Italian penal code of 1929, the time of the founding of the sovereign state Vatican City.

Criminal Law
In the 1980s Vatican City formally legalized non-commercial, non-fraternal homosexual practices between consenting adults in private. It is not known what the age of consent is in the city, but it is probably 18.

However, Vatican City is a Roman Catholic theocratic city state and thus homosexuality is strongly frowned upon by the government and the population. Thus any public displays of affection or public acknowledgment of homosexuality is likely prohibited or taboo.

Civil Rights
Vatican City does not have any civil rights provisions that include sexual orientation or gender identity. While homosexuality is not deemed to be a sin in and of itself (it is however considered objectively disordered), homosexual acts are deemed to be sinful under official Roman Catholic doctrine and thus it is highly unlikely the city will enact such anti-discrimination legislation in the foreseeable future.

In 2007 Italian members of the LGBT human rights group Arcigay held a protest in honor of the memory of an Italian gay writer named Alfredo Ormando, who committed suicide in 1998, and to protest the efforts by the Vatican government to persuade other governments not to extend legal benefits to Same-sex couples.

Internationally, the Vatican government has campaigned against nations giving legal recognition to same-sex couples, gay people being eligible to adopt or have custody of children, and against the usage of condoms to stop the spread of AIDS-HIV.

Transgendered issues
In 2000 the Vatican took the official position that transsexualism does not exist and that transgender people are in fact mentally ill.

AIDS/HIV
Officially no one living in the Vatican City is infected with AIDS or HIV. Internationally, the Vatican government has been a leading opponent of the usage of condoms as part of a campaign to stop the spread of the AIDS-HIV pandemic.

In 2006 the Vatican government said it was conducting a scientific and moral study on the usage of condoms in the fight against the pandemic.