Trinidad and Tobago anti-gay sex law struck down by Privy Council
Trinidad and Tobago’s law criminalising consensual sexual relations between male same-sex couples was overturned by a London court on Tuesday, after a legal challenge by a gay man who said the law breached his human rights. Jason Jones challenged the Caribbean nation’s Sexual Offences Act – which made “buggery” and “gross indecency” illegal – as breaching his fundamental rights under the country’s constitution. London’s Privy Council, the final court of appeal for Trinidad and Tobago, ruled...
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A legal ban on consensual same-sex relations in Trinidad and Tobago has been struck down by London’s Privy Council, concluding a major constitutional challenge brought by an activist.
The judicial body, which serves as the ultimate appellate court for the Caribbean country, delivered its verdict in favor of Jason Jones. Jones initiated the proceedings arguing that the nation's Sexual Offences Act violated the fundamental protections guaranteed to citizens by the national constitution.
Under the contested legislation, provisions regarding buggery and gross indecency outlawed intimate acts between consenting adult men. The appellate panel determined that enforcing criminal penalties on private, consensual intimacy between individuals of the same sex infringes upon constitutional rights.
The landmark ruling formally invalidates the disputed statutory prohibitions. The case had progressed through the judicial system after Jones contended that treating intimate relationships between men as criminal offenses violated basic human rights principles.
The decision represents a consequential development in Caribbean jurisprudence regarding civil rights and constitutional protections. Because the Privy Council functions as the highest court of review for Trinidad and Tobago, its interpretation of the constitution carries binding legal authority over the nation's laws.
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