by A Barbados high court has struck down colonial-era laws criminalizing gay sex, becoming the third nation in the conservative Caribbean region to do so this year.
Barbados’ high court ruling on Monday is a pivotal moment for activists and non-profits who have long campaigned against such laws on the eastern Caribbean island, including one that requires up to life in prison for homosexuals deemed guilty of having sex.
“It went from a certain ripple effect to a tidal wave in the Caribbean, which is what everyone involved set out to achieve,” said Téa Braun, managing director of London-based Human Dignity Trust, a human rights organization.
While the laws have rarely been invoked, they signal that LGBTQ+ people are criminals and minor citizens, Braun said.
“Repealing the laws reverses that and overnight tells the whole of society that it’s all about consensual touching and what people choose to do with their private relationships is none of the law’s business,” he said in a telephone interview.
Several Christian churches and organizations in the Caribbean have opposed the abolition of such laws, with the support of some political leaders who invoke God in their arguments.
Braun said there are now just six countries remaining in the Americas with similar laws, including Guyana, Grenada, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Jamaica, where members of the LGBTQ+ community have fled following violent attacks. A case in St Lucia is pending. Earlier this year, Caribbean courts found such laws unconstitutional in Antigua and Barbuda and St Kitts and Nevis.
Worldwide, 67 jurisdictions criminalize private and consensual same-sex activity, up from more than 80 a decade ago, Braun said.
Barbados’ high court issued only an oral ruling saying it found the laws unconstitutional and will not issue a written ruling detailing the reasons until the end of January. It was not immediately clear whether the government intended to appeal. Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley is considered an ally of the LGBTQ+ community and once called for the laws to be abolished when he was the island’s attorney general.
The case in question was brought by two LGBTQ+ lawyers in Barbados with support from local organizations including the Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality, Inc, which said the court’s decision “consolidates the rights of all Barbadians to privacy and freedom of expression”.
“Repealing these laws doesn’t solve all the problems, of course,” Braun said, noting that the LGBTQ+ community still faces violence and discrimination. “Dismantling these laws is the first big step, but not the last.”
