1874 in LGBT Rights

In 1874, there were 3 recorded legal changes made affecting LGBT people. In the previous year, there were 1 change made and in the following year. A total of 36 legal changes were made in the 1870s.

  • November 12
    Homosexual activity becomes male illegal, female legal.
    Article 365 in Chile's Penal Code of 1874 made sodomy a crime and punishable by "minor imprisonment in its medium degree." There were no references made to lesbian sex, so it was technically legal.
  • Equal age of consent becomes female equal, male n/a.
    Article 365 criminalized sodomy under the Penal Code of 1874, and there were no mentions of lesbian sex.
  • (date unknown)
    Homosexual activity becomes illegal (up to life in prison as punishment).
    When Fiji was colonized by the British in 1874, they inherited the British’s Victorian-era sodomy laws. The Offences Against the Person Act 1861 made the punishment for homosexual sex up to life in prison.