Objectives What accounts for the variation in the status of gay rights across countries? We consider the effects of media freedom and Internet access and hypothesize that it is the combination of the two that matters for promoting gay rights. Methods Using cross‐national time‐series data drawn from a variety of sources, we test our hypotheses using a measure of lesbian, gay, and bisexual legal equality. Results Our results indicate that the effects of media freedom and Internet access on gay rights are each conditional on the other. It is the interaction of media freedom and Internet access that has a statistically significant and positive effect on gay rights; without media freedom, Internet access has no significant effect and vice versa. Conclusion All else being equal, we observe greater respect for gay rights in those countries featuring a combination of both free media and higher rates of Internet access.