South Africa in world’s top 20 LGBTQ+ travel destinations

South Africa has been named one of the better countries for LGBTQ+ travel, according to the website MyDatingAdviser.com.

The country was ranked 11th in the world, landing it a spot in the top 20 most gay-friendly travel destinations. South Africa has been given an LGBTQ+ travel index score of 86.2 (out of a possible 100 points)

So what makes South Africa one of the most gay-friendly countries?

Public acceptance towards homosexuality: 54% of the South African public is accepting towards homosexuality, according to a ‘Global Attitudes & Trends’ survey by Pew Research.

Sexual activity for same-sex couples: Male legal since 1998. Female always legal.

Civil union rights: Limited recognition of unregistered partnerships since 1998.

Marriage rights: Legal since 2006.

Adoption rights: Legal since 2002.

Military service rights: Legal since 1998.

Anti-discrimination laws: The constitution bans all anti-gay discrimination.

Gender identity laws: Anti-discrimination laws are interpreted to include gender identity; legal gender may be changed after surgical or medical treatment.

To determine the most gay-friendly travel destinations, MyDatingAdviser compared 34 countries across 8 key indicators of LGBTQ+-friendliness.

The data set focuses on the following categories: society acceptance towards homosexuality, sexual activity rights, civil union rights, marriage rights, adoption rights, military service rights, anti-discrimination laws, and gender identity laws.

The 20 best to worst countries for LGBTQ+ Travel in 2021:

1. Sweden
2. Netherlands
3. Spain
4. France
5. United Kingdom
6. Germany
7. Canada
8. Australia
9. Brazil
10. Argentina
11. South Africa
12. Italy
13. Israel
14. United States
15. Czech Republic
16. Mexico
17. Greece
18. Poland
19. Slovakia
20. Philippines

In 2018, the annual value of total spend on travel and tourism by LGBTQ people was estimated by international consulting specialists Out Now to exceed US$218 billion.