TL;DR: An appeal court in Trinidad and Tobago has overturned a court ruling that helped multiple countries across the Caribbean overturn colonially rooted laws that made same-sex intamacy illegal. The country will now punish gay sex with prison terms.
An appeals court in Trinidad and Tobago recriminalised consensual same-sex relations in the country this week, in a devastating turn of events for LGBTQIA+ people right across the Caribbean.
It reverses a landmark decision made by the High Court in 2018 to overturn a law with roots in colonial 'buggery' laws. The original case argued that Sections 13 and 16 of the country’s Sexual Offences Act were unconstitutional. The High Court agreed, ruling that the laws violated the rights of LGBTQIA+ individuals.
However, this week, after an appeal by the Attorney General, the Court of Appeal reinstated the criminalisation. In the process, it reduced the sentence down from 25 years to five years’ imprisonment - GCN
The activist behind many of the challenges to anti-LGBTQIA+ laws across the Caribbean, Jason Jones - last year's UK Black History Month guest editor for QueerAF - expressed both his upset and resilience to continue the fight.
Describing the outcome as "deeply traumatic", he added that it hadn't hurt his resolve and that he would continue to fight for the full equality of all people regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation.
“As an LGBTQ+ citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, this regressive judgment has ripped up my contract as a citizen and again makes me an unapprehended criminal in the eyes of the law,” said Jones in a statement he posted to social media. “The TT Court of Appeal has effectively put a target on the back of LGBTQIA+ people and made us lower-class citizens in our own country” - Washington Blade
Analysis: The ruling could have an impact across the Caribbean
Jason Jones' work as an LGBTQIA+ rights activist has had an incredible impact, and not only in his home country. Now living in the UK, he has worked to use that 2018 ruling in Trinidad and Tobago to challenge other anti-homosexuality laws with origins in British colonial rule in other countries.
The 2018 victory in Trinidad was just the start right across the Caribbean. It led to victories in Antigua and Barbuda, St Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, and Barbados. But with cases still pending in Grenada and St Lucia, this new ruling could have a broader impact on the region - 76 Crimes
It also means, in a rare reversal of the trend, that the number of countries where it is illegal to be gay increased to 66 this week.
We're in a tumultuous period, but like Jason Jones our resolve to fight won’t be stopped by this news. Instead, we should be fueled by the knowledge we've won before and will again. And that we can only do that if we unite and support the work - locally and globally - to ensure love is never a criminal offence.
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