I was quite busy with work in June, but wanted to provide an updated analysis of LGBT rights around the world as a way to mark pride month. I used ChatGPT’s “Deep Research” tool to do an analysis of all 195 countries on earth. “Deep research” took about 90 minutes to run. I provided the prompt below.
Prompt:
What percent of Christians, Buddhists, Muslims and Jews live somewhere homosexuality is criminalized with law, jail, death or other? What percent live somewhere with civil unions or gay marriage?
Considerations:
- Consider each religion, but not denominations within each religion
- Make sure to count Christians in non-Christian majority countries, Jews in non-Jewish majority countries etc.
- Take your time and do a very in depth analysis. Ensure to take your time to ensure data is as accurate and specific as possible.
- Triple check and triple review data for accuracy before finalizing.
- Use ranges only if needed. Provide in your output only the percent figures (two figures for each religion).
- Consider every single country on earth, not only the most populous
Output:
- Of 2,400 million Christians on earth, 15% live somewhere homosexuality is criminalized, and 61% live somewhere with recognition of civil unions or gay marriage
- Of 1,900 million Muslims on earth, 67% live somewhere homosexuality is criminalized, and 2%live somewhere with recognition of civil unions or gay marriage
- Of 500 million Buddhists on earth, 13% live somewhere homosexuality is criminalized, and 19%live somewhere with recognition of civil unions or gay marriage
- Of 15 million Jews on earth, 0% live somewhere homosexuality is criminalized, and 95% live somewhere with recognition of civil unions or gay marriage
Key Takeaways:
- A Christian is approximately 30 times more likely than a Muslim to live in a country that recognizes civil unions or gay marriage.
- A Muslim is approximately 4.5 times more likely than a Christian to live in a country where homosexuality is criminalized.
Questions for Discussion:
- Why is there such a stark difference in LGBTQ+ legal environments between Muslim-majority and Christian-majority countries, despite both having strong religious traditions?
- How can global religious communities reconcile traditional beliefs with growing legal recognition of LGBTQ+ rights?
- Is it possible to be both deeply religious and fully supportive of LGBTQ+ rights under current global laws? Where do you draw the line personally?
- Do you think international human rights pressure helps or hurts efforts to decriminalize homosexuality in religious countries?
——
Notes:
- Religious Population Data – Based on 2025 projections from the Pew Research Center and the World Religion Database, covering global adherent estimates by country.
- LGBTQ+ Legal Status by Country – Derived from the 2025 ILGA World report, which tracks where homosexuality is criminalized and where same-sex unions or marriage are recognized.
- Country-Specific Legal Updates – Includes recent legal changes such as Thailand’s legalization of same-sex marriage and Israel’s recognition of foreign same-sex marriages.
- Weighted Analysis – Percentages reflect national legal status matched against the size of each religion’s population in each country, not just majority countries.
- Minority Populations Included – Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Buddhists living outside their majority regions (e.g. Jews in the U.S., Christians in the Middle East) are fully counted to ensure global accuracy.
R&I ~ MJM
RealJew
Article URL : https://disqus.com/home/notifications/?