Judicial committee of the Privy Council overturns anti-gay laws in Trinidad and Tobago

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London ruled that colonial-era laws criminalising same-sex intimacy in Trinidad and Tobago violate fundamental human rights.

This decision ends a decade of legal challenges brought by activists against the country's buggery laws. The ruling specifically clarifies that adults in both same-sex and heterosexual relationships can no longer face prosecution under Section 13 of the Sexual Offences Act for consensual anal intercourse in private.

The court's unanimous verdict effectively scraps legislation first introduced in 1925 under British colonial rule. Trinidad-born LGBTQ+ activist Jason Jones led the legal effort starting in 2016. Although a local High Court ruled the laws unconstitutional in 2018, the national government successfully appealed that decision last year to recriminalise the act. The Privy Council's new ruling now reverses that government appeal.

While this victory joins other Caribbean nations like St Lucia, Barbados, and Dominica that have overturned similar laws, Jones notes that many other Commonwealth countries still maintain these statutes. He expressed concern that social changes may take decades to manifest despite the legal victory.