South Africa named 15th safest LGBTQ+ travel destination

Nigeria is the most dangerous country for LGBTQ+ travel while South Africa is among the least dangerous, beating out the likes of Ireland, Australia and the Unites States.

Instead of relying on hearsay and anecdotes from other travellers, American researchers Asher and Lyric takes a deep look at LGBTQ+ rights, country by country. They gather data from a variety of trusted international sources to create a LGBTQ+ Danger Index that will help you find the worst (and safest) countries for LGBTQ+ travel.

Sweden was named the safest country to visit followed by Canada, Norway, Portugal, Belgium and the United Kingdom. The five most dangerous countries for LGBTQ+ travel are Nigeria, Qatar, Yemen and Saudia Arabia, in which homosexuality can be punished with the death penalty, and Tanzania.

THE RANKING PROCESS

The ranking is based on eight factors such as legalisation of same-sex marriage, LGBTQ+ worker protections, adoption recognition, hate crime legislation and criminalisation of same-sex relationships.

These issues can affect everything, from your ability to show public displays of affection to being able to share a hotel room bed to the capacity at which you can use dating apps without being caught by the local police.

A few items on the list, such as adoption recognition and worker protections may not affect LGBTQ+ travellers directly, but these factors are a good indication of overall attitudes within the culture.

While the index is useful it may not necessarily fully accurately reflect the real danger facing LGBTQ+ travellers. For example, some countries may have anti-LGBTQ+ laws on their statute books but may not actively enforce them.

The researchers acknowledged that certain cities, tourist areas or resorts can sometimes be LGBTQ+ friendly even when the laws of the country are very anti-LGBTQ+. They urged travellers to check up-to-date news and if you feel apprehensive, consider travelling to a more LGBTQ + friendly country.