Ian Kaufman
Features Editor

When planning to voyage to unknown lands, it’s common practice to get a few books out of the library, rev up the old computron, and inform oneself on the culture, architecture, and environment of your destination. While these things are all important, there is an additional consideration we seldom take – what are the sexual mores and laws going to be like where we’re going? While by no means exhaustive, this guide gives an overview that will at least get you thinking about this element of travelling. It might even save you some jail time – or your life.

Having a gay old time

While there is no shortage of things to keep in mind when visiting Iran, perhaps the most important is to refrain from being gay. The country’s legal system defines sex between men a crime punishable by death. Of course, unless you travel with your partner, this shouldn’t pose much of a problem: As Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pointed out to an audience at New York’s Columbia University, “In Iran, we don’t have homosexuals like in your country”. Women can expect the lesser punishment of 100 lashes for engaging in homosexual activity.
Iran’s laws surrounding homosexuality are uncommon only in the severity of their punishments, as the savvy traveller is no doubt aware. Over 40 countries deny entry to lesbian, gay, and bisexual visitors, while homosexuality is illegal in more than 80 countries; only four besides Iran, however, apply the death penalty (Sudan, Mauritania, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia). On the bright side, your conviction for any kind of illegal sexual activity in Iran is only possible with the testimony of four adult male witnesses. Unfortunately, this makes pressing charges for rape nearly impossible.
It will perhaps come as a surprise to many that the Vatican City does not prohibit same-sex sexual activity. So with its impressive architecture and its lush gardens, which cover more than half of the city, the Papal state is one hell of a romantic get-away, whatever your sexual orientation.

Going South of the border

Thanks to laws varying radically from state to state, the U.S. can be a haven for sexual depravity as easily as a prudish tyranny. Take, for example, bestiality: only around 30 states have expressly outlawed the practice, although most of the rest prosecute the act by way of animal cruelty legislation. That still leaves at least three states in which zoophiliacs are apparently free to pursue their passions without fear of legal reprisal: Arkansas, Montana, and North Carolina, where laws prohibiting bestiality have been struck down as unconstitutional.
Then there’s the prudish side of the coin: If you and/or your partner are under 18 and like to dabble in the thoroughly modern art of “sexting”, you may want to avoid venturing north of the border. Dozens of teens in at least five states have been charged with sexual abuse or possessing, manufacturing, and disseminating child pornography as a result of “provocative” pictures sent over cell phones.
Seventeen Pennsylvania students faced those charges after a teacher found a series of pictures after confiscating one girl’s phone during class. By agreeing to a plea deal in which they attended a ten-hour class on pornography and sexual violence, most of them avoided the potential consequences: jail time and registration as a sex offender. You might not be so lucky!

Eat, drink and be married

Fornication – that is, sex between people who are not married – is illegal in a handful of countries, nearly all of them in the Middle East (the exceptions being Morocco, Malaysia, and Sudan). Although these legal stipulations can cause major problems for the citizens of these countries, the only travellers affected appear to be drunken hooligan tourists – not that this demographic necessarily deserve any lesser degree of protection under the law.
Case in point: two British citizens were sentenced to three months imprisonment after getting caught in a compromising situation on a Dubai beach. They even went so far as to rush a civil marriage ceremony in hopes that it would reduce the severity of the sentence. The catch: they had just come from a posh all-you-can-drink event, and it has been suggested that the woman attempted to attack the police officer who happened upon them.
Whether or not you’re married, think about curtailing PDA when visiting the region – although rarely illegal, it is often frowned upon. Research the legalities surrounding sex before you travel somewhere, and be aware of the cultural mores as well. In this case, that would mean refraining from having sex on a public beach. In short, use your common sense.