Gay rights in Albania

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Before 1995, homosexuality in Albania was illegal: Article 137 of the Penal Code read simply: "Homosexuality is punishable by: up to ten years of imprisonment". In the summer of 1994 the Government of Albania put forward a draft penal code under which homosexuality would have remained illegal, but with the maximum sentence reduced to three years. A campaign by the Gay Albania Society within Albania, and international pressure orchestrated by ILGA, in which the Council of Europe played an important role, led to the withdrawal of this draft law, so that from 1995, consensual homosexual acts between adults became legal.

"Victory in Albania: On January 20, 1995 the Albanian Parliament finally legalized homosexual relations in Albania. The new penal code of the Republic of Albania, which should enter into force shortly, foresees punitive sanctions only for sexual relations with minors and for sex involving violence. Article 137 of the old Penal Code promulgated under the communist dictatorship, which foresaw up to ten years of prison for simply "being homosexual" has thus been done away with completely." (Gay Albania/ILGA press release dated 3 Feb 1995)