

Show HN: Compare LGBT Rights Between Any Country, State, or Province - danlev
http://equaldex.com/compare

======
DanBC
This page says homosexual activity has been legal in the UK since 2000.

Where is it getting that, and which part of the UK does it apply to?

Same sex sexual activity was legalised in England and Wales in 1967; in
Scotland in 1981; and 1982 for NI.

The age of consent was equalised in 2001 (for England, Wales, and Scotland)
and 2009 for NI.

~~~
Squarel
If you look at each country individually within the UK, it shows the correct
details.

I suspect it is because in the original law, there were nuances such as "The
privacy restrictions of the Act meant a third person could not be present and
that gay men could not have sex in a hotel. These restrictions were overturned
in the European Court of Human Rights in 2000"

------
auganov
Would be cool for the "Equality Index" to be 2 or multi dimensional. I feel
like laws on adoption, gender/sex change, age of consent, blood donations,
marriage etc. fall on the absolute/objective liberty spectrum. While stuff
like anti-discrimination laws, housing policies, conversion therapy bans etc
are interventionist regulations.

Also needs more categories/granularity.

[http://get.lgbt](http://get.lgbt) you should get one :D

------
dom96
The text box for inputting countries seems to be a bit broken. Seems to stop
giving suggestions after some time or it just me?

~~~
danlev
I've run into that issue a few times but I thought I fixed it. Before,
reloading seemed to have fixed it. I'll look into it though. Thanks for
pointing it out! :)

------
heynk
On the 'comparison' pages, the Equality Index score is listed as a horizontal
bar chart, which makes at-a-glance comparison impossible. If you need to keep
it as a bar, please consider making them vertical, so you can easily compare
visually. Currently, I'm only able to compare that score based on color, so
places with the same color aren't comparable on that metric. Personally, I'd
prefer if you just put your number there.

Of course, I can just keep using right click -> Inspect Element :)

~~~
danlev
Great point about the Equality Index being vertical -- that's something I've
been considering.

Regarding it being represented as a number, I originally wanted to include
that, however, the way the Equality Index is calculated is pretty rudimentary.
Creating a number representing the "amount of equality" people have is going
to be pretty arbitrary, especially without enough public opinion data.
Eventually, once it becomes more sophisticated/accurate, and I include more
data points and surveys, maybe I will reconsider. For now, I purposely left it
as an unlabeled bar so that it's a little clearer that it's a "rough
visualization."

------
fiatjaf
Why, for "Conversion therapy", being banned is the best status possible,
according to this website?

~~~
danlev
"Conversion therapy" is a controversial therapy used to "convert" gay people
"back to straight." The process is almost always heavily influenced by
religion, and can be very harmful, psychologically. Some gay people are forced
into this against their will, by their parents. There have been cases where
people have committed suicide or had suicidal thoughts.

The organizations who run the therapy are super sketchy as well.

Wikipedia has some extensive information on it:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_therapy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_therapy)

~~~
nickysielicki
Banning snake oil is never a part of a free society.

Whether you want to admit it or not, some people commit themselves to these
centers and come out straight / believing they're straight/cisgendered/etc.
Their motivations are generally because they come from a culture/family that
is not accepting of who they really are. They themselves probably hate who
they truly are. So they pay thousands of dollars for the chance of tricking
themselves into believing that things are different.

Does it commonly fail? Of course.

But does there exist someone in the world who is living a happier life because
they attended this therapy? I believe it's possible. And for that reason, I
think banning it is wrong.

I imagine that choosing between being accepted by your community/family and
being unhindered in expressing your sexuality is a very difficult and personal
decision. I don't think any lawmaker has the right to make it for you.

~~~
byuu
> Banning snake oil is never a part of a free society.

The problem is parents forcing it on their kids. Set the minimum age to 22 or
so (where most kids will be finished with college, since most kids are
dependent on their parents for that now too), and it would be a lot more
palatable.

------
anExcitedBeast
I like it. Would be cool to apply the concept to more ideas, like free speech,
religious/atheist freedom, gun rights, economic freedom/protections.

------
lukasm
Homosexuality was never illegal in Poland. It wasn't regulated before 1932.

~~~
danlev
The site is crowdsourced, so if you click "Accurate?: No" on anything
incorrect (on a country's page), you can supply details so that our moderators
can look into it. :) Thanks!

------
personjerry
> Any Country

Off the top of my head, where's Japan and China?

~~~
bratch
I can't even find my own home, although people do like to debate whether it is
a country, state or province.

~~~
danlev
What country is that? Every country is included on the site, however,
provinces aren't always available for the more minor countries.

~~~
bratch
Jersey.

------
LGBT_2000
Amazing.

------
radiodario
spain yusss

