Gay rights in Azerbaijan

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June 2000: Gay activists in Azerbaijan reported that the ban on sexual relationships between men in that country has been lifted. A special edition of "Azerbaijan", the official newspaper of the Parliament, published on 28 May, reported that the Parliament had approved a new Criminal Code, and that the President had signed a decree bringing it into force in September. The text of the new Criminal Code was also published. From this it is clear that the old Article 113 (inherited from the Soviet era, and which punished anal sex between men with three years imprisonment) has been replaced with a new Article 150, which bans only forcible sexual acts.

Although homosexual acts between consenting male adults were officially decriminalized, reports about police abuses against gays, mainly male prostitutes, persisted during the last year. While complaining of the violence against them, the victims preferred to remain anonymous fearing retaliation on the part of police." (2001 Report of the International Helsinki Federation).