[1][2] Although same-sex sexual activity was a capital crime that often resulted in the death penalty during the Ancien Régime, all sodomy laws were repealed in 1791 during the French Revolution.

[6] Paris has been named by many publications as one of the most gay-friendly cities in the world, with a thriving LGBTQ community and nightlife in Le Marais, Quartier Pigalle and Bois de Boulogne.

Still, homosexuality and cross-dressing were widely seen as being immoral, and LGBTQ people were still subjected to legal harassment under various laws concerning public morality and order.

[12] A less known discriminative law was adopted in 1960, inserting into the Penal Code (article 330, 2nd alinea) a clause that doubled the penalty for indecent exposure for homosexual activity.

[16] In March 2024, the French National Assembly (lower house) unanimously passed a bill to victims for "compensation regarding the gay men arrested under Article 330 prior to 1980".

[38] In June 2017, a spokesperson for French President Emmanuel Macron stated that the government intends to legislate to allow assisted reproduction for lesbian couples.

This followed a report by an independent ethics panel in France which recommended that PMA law be revised to include lesbian couples and single people.

[53] The proposal also foresees the state covering the cost of the assisted reproduction procedures for all women under 43 and allowing children born with donated sperm to find out their donor's identity when they reach the age of 18.

[58] In 1985, national legislation was enacted to prohibit sexual orientation based discrimination in employment, housing and other public and private provisions of services and goods.

[61] Chapter 2 of the Labour Code (French: Code du travail)[a] reads as follows:[62] No person may be excluded from a recruitment process or from access to an internship or a period of training in a company, no employee may be sanctioned, dismissed or subject to a discriminatory measure, direct or indirect, [...], on account of origin, gender, morals, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, family situation or pregnancy, genetic characteristics, economic situation, membership or non-membership, true or supposed, to an ethnic group, nation or race, political opinions, trade union or mutualist activities, religious beliefs, physical appearance, last name, place of residence, health conditions, loss of autonomy or disability, or usage of a language other than French.In March 2008, Xavier Darcos, Minister of Education, announced a policy fighting against all forms of discrimination, including homophobia, in schools.

The maximum penalty of a €45,000 fine and/or 12 months' imprisonment has been criticised by civil liberty groups such as Reporters Without Borders as a serious infringement on free speech.

[68][69][70] A report released on 16 May 2020, right before the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, showed that homophobic and transphobic attacks and insults rose by 36% in 2019.

[71] In 2010, France removed gender identity disorder as a diagnosis by decree,[72][73][74] but according to French transgender rights organizations, beyond the impact of the announcement itself, nothing changed.

[61] On 6 November 2015, a bill to allow transgender people to legally change their gender without the need for sex reassignment surgery and forced sterilisation was approved by the French Senate.

[77][78][79] MP Pascale Crozon, who introduced the bill, reminded MPs before the vote about the long, uncertain and humiliating procedures by which transgender people must go through to change their gender on vital records.

[81] The National Assembly then met on 12 October in a plenary session to approve the bill once more and rejected amendments proposed by the Senate which would have required proof of medical treatment.

[89] A report published in 2022 by ILGA-Europe found significant issues with the provision of gender affirming healthcare in France, including lack of self-determination, extended waiting times, and inequitable access depending on location.

The report criticized gender affirming care as a 'health scandal', and youth transness as a 'social contagion'; and was subsequently disputed by a number of doctors and advocates.

[98][99] On 17 March 2017, the President of the Republic, François Hollande, described medical interventions to make the bodies of intersex children more typically male or female as increasingly considered to be mutilations.

[110] On 3 April 2015, a deputy member of the UMP party, Arnaud Richard, presented an amendment against the exclusion of MSM, which was eventually adopted later in the same month.

[111] In November 2015, Minister of Health Marisol Touraine announced that gay and bisexual men in France can donate blood after one year of abstinence from sex.

[116][117][118] LGBTQ rights organisations in France include Act Up Paris, SOS Homophobie, Arcadie, FHAR (Front homosexuel d'action révolutionnaire), Gouines rouges, GLH (Groupe de libération homosexuelle), CUARH (Comité d'urgence anti-répression homosexuelle), L'Association Trans Aide, ("Trans Aid Association", established in September 2004) and Bi'Cause.

Nantes, Montpellier and Toulouse organised their first pride festivals in 1995, followed by Lyon, Lille, Bordeaux, Grenoble, Cannes and Aix-en-Provence in 1996, Rouen, Biarritz,[120] Angers and Poitiers in 2000, and Caen and Strasbourg in 2001.

[126] The 2023 Eurobarometer found that 79% of French people thought same-sex marriage should be allowed throughout Europe, and 84% agreed that "there is nothing wrong in a sexual relationship between two persons of the same sex".

Despite this, acceptance of homosexuality and same-sex relationships tends to be lower than in metropolitan France, as residents are in general more religious, and religion plays a bigger role in public life.

Other groups include AIDES Territoire Martinique, KAP Caraïbe, Tjenbé Rèd Prévention and SAFE SXM (originally from Sint Maarten).

[134] In addition, Saint Barthélemy's reputation as an international celebrity tourist destination has resulted in a more open and relaxed social climate for LGBTQ people than the other French Caribbean territories.

In 2006, Lifou Island proposed a "family code", which sought to ban homosexuality and foresee punishments of eviction or lynching for LGBTQ people.

Homosexuality is typically a taboo topic among the Mahorais, and many LGBTQ people have chosen to move to neighbouring Réunion or to metropolitan France.

[141] Furthermore, French Polynesian society has a long tradition of raising some boys as girls to play important domestic roles in communal life (including dancing, singing and house chores).