Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in Zambia face significant challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents.

Such procedures are invasive and traumatic and are widely condemned by medical authorities and human rights groups; they are discredited for the purpose of providing any evidence of same-sex sexual activity.

[a] The law criminalizes consensual same-sex sexual conduct, with penalties upon conviction for engaging in "acts against the order of nature" of fifteen years' to life imprisonment.

[3][5][6][7][8] Section 155 ("Unnatural Offences") criminalizes homosexual sex as a felony punishable by terms of imprisonment which range from fifteen years, up to a life sentence.

"[9] In 1998, in a statement to the National Assembly of Zambia, Vice President Christon Tembo called for the arrest of individuals who promote gay rights, citing a need to "protect public morality".

[13] After the program, the activist was stopped by police, held in jail overnight, and accused of inciting the public to take part in indecent activities.

Article 23(2) further prohibits discrimination "by any person acting by virtue of any written law or in the performance of the functions of any public office or any public authority", and Article 23(3) defines discrimination as extending to differential treatment of persons on the basis of "race, tribe, sex, place of origin, marital status, political opinions, color or creed".

Zambian legal policies regarding same-sex activity have effectively bred a national environment of homophobia which has made it to where that the justice system severely disadvantages LGBTQ identifying individuals.

Activists reported regular harassment, including threats via text message and e-mail, vandalism, stalking, and outright violence.

In April 2013, Paul Kasonkomona, a notable Zambian LGBTQ activist, was arrested for speaking about LBGT and HIV related issues on a local TV station.

The Government was determined not to prescribe to the Zambian people those rights that the Constitution should contain, but to let them make such a determination.However, in its 2018 review, Zambia noted the recommendations to decriminalize same-sex relations.

In 2006, Home Affairs Minister Ronnie Shikapwasha stated that Zambia would never legalize same-sex marriage, claiming that it is a sin that goes against the country's Christian status.

[25] In February 2010, the National Constitutional Conference (NCC) unanimously agreed to adopt a clause that expressly forbids marriage between people of the same sex.

Arguably the largest recipient of fundamentalist evangelical missionaries during British colonial times, such fundamentalist-style religious adherence is widespread in Zambia.

The report asserts that LGBTQ people are subject to arbitrary arrest and detention, "discrimination in education, employment, housing, and access to services", and extortion–often with the knowledge or participation of law enforcement authorities.

LGBTQI+ persons were at risk of societal violence due to prevailing prejudices, misperceptions of the law, lack of legal protections, and inability to access healthcare services, and were subjected to prolonged detentions.The report notes that LGBTQI+ advocacy groups advise that police regularly solicit bribes from arrested individuals for alleged same-sex activity.

The research and advocacy group Human Rights Watch reports the use of forced anal examinations for police prosecutions, despite such procedures having no evidentiary value as to same-sex activity.

[33] In reporting a specific 2014 prosecution, Amnesty International described the treatment of the two men in the case, who were subjected to forced anal examinations as "tantamount to torture and scientifically invalid".

[1] As of July 2007, no public or private programmes provide HIV-related counselling to homosexual men in Zambia, where the HIV seroprevalence rate among adults is approximately 17 percent.