Safest and most dangerous countries for LGBTQ+ travelers

While many places are Instagram-worthy, being up-to-date on a country’s human rights policies and discrimination ratings is also key for LGBTQ travelers.

Travel site Asher & Lyric employed more than 400 hours of research, using data based on 10 crucial factors that are directly related to the LGBTQ+ community, from legal protections and hate crime rates, to protections for second-parent adoption and more to determine which destinations were safest and most dangerous for gay and trans travelers and their families.

Here are the top 10 countries that are safest for LGBTQ+ wanderlusts:

It’s no secret that plenty of others destinations pose challenges or even threats to the LGBTQ+ community.

“Not only do LGBTQ+ people not have rights, but they are also actively targeted and imprisoned for their sexual identities and gender expression,” explained Asher Fergusson to Forbes.

Here are the 10 countries to avoid for LGBTQ+ travelers:

“You can institute all the laws you want, but at the end of the day, if the local people don’t become more compassionate and accepting of their LGBTQ+ neighbors then we’ll still have tension in society which leads to violence and other kinds of unsafe situations,” added Fergusson.