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English court set to rule on final challenge to Trinidad’s gay sex ban
Five judges in London could rule this week on whether Trinidad and Tobago’s colonial-era buggery laws violate constitutional rights.
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London began hearing a landmark case challenging Trinidad and Tobago colonial-era "buggery" laws, which criminalize gay sex and carry potential five-year prison sentences.
Jason Jones filed the challenge in 2017, arguing the laws are unconstitutional; Jones, who is 61, left the country in 1996 citing homophobic discrimination and violence.
Opposing Jones are the Trinidad and Tobago government, the Council of Evangelical Churches, and the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, while supporters argue criminalizing gay sex compounds stigma, preventing young people from seeking essential health and support services.
Activists across the Caribbean are closely watching the outcome, which could set a precedent for the largely conservative region, though the five judges face no deadline to decide.
Recently, courts in Barbados, Dominica, Lucia, and Antigua and Barbuda struck down similar laws; however, gay sex remains a crime in Grenada, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Vincent and the Grenadines.