2026 World Cup LGBTQ Travel Advisory for North America

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will bring millions of international visitors to the United States, Canada, and Mexico, creating one of the largest cross-border travel events in modern history. For LGBTQ travelers, however, the operating environment across North America is becoming increasingly complex. While Canada and Mexico generally maintain broad legal protections and are characterized by social acceptance in major urban areas, the United States is experiencing growing policy divergence between federal and state authorities alongside heightened political polarization surrounding LGBTQ issues.  

The US, Canada, and Mexico remain accessible destinations for the vast majority of LGBTQ travelers. However, the risk landscape is becoming increasingly traveler-dependent rather than destination-dependent. In previous World Cups, security planning largely focused on crime, terrorism, and crowd management. For the 2026 tournament, identity-related considerations are likely to play a greater role in the US. On April 23, several human rights and civil organizations jointly issued a travel advisory for specific communities, including LGBTQ travelers, who are visiting North America, coinciding with the FIFA World Cup this summer.

• The World Cup is occurring just as the U.S. State Department on May 29 announced its intention to apply President Trump’s Executive Order 14168 to US travel documents. The order directs federal agencies to recognize only male or female sex markers. US-government-issued documentation, including passports, visas, and Global Entry cards, will reflect only M, for male, or F, for female, markers, removing the X marker option. This legislation affects the US-government issue of documentation and does not prohibit entry by travelers bearing documents with these markers.
• Transgender and gender-nonconforming travelers face particularly elevated risks when traveling to the US for the World Cup, especially in situations where documentation does not align gender identity with sex-at-birth markers on US-issued documents and visas. The implication for foreign nationals arises when travelers apply for or use US-issued or US-processed travel permissions, such as visas, ESTA/Visa Waiver travel authorization, Global Entry, or airline data transmitted to US Customs and Border Protection.

The World Cup’s overlap with Pride Month is likely to amplify existing political and social debates surrounding LGBTQ issues across North America. This dynamic will likely be most pronounced in host cities conducting pride celebrations, LGBTQ-inclusive fan programming, or pride-themed match activities. GLAAD, a prominent American LGBTQ organization, published a 2025 “anti-LGBTQ” tracker recording more than 1,000 incidents across 48 US states, with noted spikes during pride events.

Previous objections by some participating nations to LGBTQ-related World Cup programming—notably Iran and Egypt—suggest that such events may become focal points for diplomatic criticism, activist mobilization, and competing public narratives. As a result, LGBTQ travelers may face a more politically charged environment than would typically be expected during a major international sporting event. 

Canada and Mexico maintain legal protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression, and both nations recognize same-sex marriage. Mexico has long been named as a top LGBTQ-friendly travel destination in Latin America, while Canada is generally considered among the safest destinations for LGBTQ travelers in the world. More conservative attitudes may persist in rural and less-populated areas of both countries, despite broadly accepting social attitudes at the national levels. Travelers should be aware that unwanted attention or verbal harassment might be encountered if visiting locations removed from major urban areas as side-trips during the World Cup: In particular, greater situational awareness and discretion is advised for LGBTQ travelers in rural areas of Mexico.

Mexico and Canada also issue and recognize non-binary-inclusive passports. Travelers who do not identify as either male or female on their documents should not face any bars to entry at checkpoints in either country. However, international travelers should confirm specifics with their intended airline carrier, since many airlines and international booking systems have not fully adopted the “X” marker for non-binary travelers.

Although Mexico is considered friendly for LGBTQ travelers, there has been negative publicity for Mexico linked to fan conduct at matches. FIFA penalized Mexico for an abusive chant its fans repeatedly directed at the opposing team’s goalkeeper. The team was penalized for the fans’ use of a word considered to be a derogatory slur; however, the behavior seems intended to provoke the opposing team and has not been linked to violence or actual harassment of match attendees. FIFA continues to advise fans that abuse and discrimination will not be tolerated, and Mexican stadiums are taking steps to curb the practice. 

The 2026 World Cup demonstrates how traveler risk is increasingly shaped by identity, policy, and political context rather than traditional threats alone. For LGBTQ travelers, the most consequential risks are likely to arise before arrival and outside of stadiums, particularly during visa processing, border-entry procedures, and movement through highly visible public spaces. While North America remains a viable destination for LGBTQ travelers, the World Cup environment is likely to require more proactive planning than comparable international sporting events in recent years.

To mitigate the likelihood of elevated risks for LGBTQ travelers, companies should consider adopting an expanded duty-of-care framework with special attention paid to transgender and gender-nonconforming travelers who may face additional administrative scrutiny when documentation and gender presentation do not align.

• Duty of care for LGBTQ travelers will likely require companies to prioritize border-entry exposure as the most acute risk.
• Travel management should anticipate increased attention to pre-travel legal screening and visa/ESTA contingency planning and should set out alternative routing options.
• Crisis24's Journey Management solution and Crisis24 Horizon platform adopts an expanded duty of care approach, prioritizing traveler-dependent risk profiles and ongoing assessments for multiple client profiles, including LGBTQ security risk. 

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