Kiribati is home to a traditional transgender population. The Gilbertese word binabinaaine refers to people who were assigned male at birth but act, dress and behave as female, while the word binabinamane has the opposite meaning, that being a person who was assigned female at birth but behaves as male. People who live as these gender roles have traditionally been accepted by Kiribati society, and are not perceived as immoral or disordered, but as belonging to a third gender alongside male and female.
Sections 153, 154, and 155 of the Penal Code outlaw anal intercourse regardless of sex. There are no reports of prosecutions directed against LGBT people under these laws. 153. Unnatural Offences 154. Attempts to commit unnatural offences and indecent assaults 155. Indecent practices between males
The Marriage Act does not expressly forbid the recognition of same-sex marriages, but generally assumes the partners to be of the opposite sex. The law's "restrictions on marriage" section forbids marriages with family relatives, marriage where either party is below the age of 16 and bigamy. The Magistrate's Court has the legal power to void and dissolve marriages.
Discrimination protections
Discrimination against employees and prospective employees based on "sexual orientation" is prohibited under Article 107 of the Employment and Industrial Relations Code 2015. The Constitution of Kiribati does not expressly address discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Article 15, entitled "Protection from discriminarion on the grounds of race, etc", states:
in English: In this section, the expression "discriminatory" means affording different treatment to different persons attributable wholly or mainly to their respective descriptions by race, place of origin, political opinions, colour or creed whereby persons of one such description are subjected to disabilities or restrictions to which persons of another such description are not made subject or are accorded privileges or advantages which are not accorded to persons of another such description
in Gilbertese: N te kibu aio te taeka ae "kakaokoroaki" nanona bon te makuri ae e kakaokoroaki arona nakoia aomata aika a kakaokoro ae a anganaki ni kaeti nakon aia reeti, aia tabo are a riki mai iai, aia iango i bukin te tautaeka, kuniia ke aia koaua n te aro are tem'aangina a reke i aan te aki konaa ke kateituaakiia, ao tem'aangina a aki reke iai, ke tib'angana ma vaaki a anganaki tabeman ao tabeman a aki