Source: independent.co.uk 11/10/26
A final court of appeal in the UK overturned a centuries-old ban on homosexual sex in Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday in a ruling welcomed by campaigners across the world.
Bringing an end to a nearly 10-year battle for gay rights in the twin-island state, the decision is final.
“Those laws cannot be regarded as reasonably justifiable in a society that has a proper respect for the rights and freedom of the individual,” stated Judge Philip James Sales of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
Delivering the unanimous decision, he read: “The current understanding of the fundamental individual right to respect for private and family life is that it protects such a core part of human identity, as one’s sexual orientation and the sexual activities carried on in private between consenting adults to give expression to that identity,” adding that, “Laws which seek to criminalize such activities cannot be justified.”
The lawsuit was brought in February 2017 by Jason Jones, who contended that colonial-era “buggery” legislation in Trinidad and Tobago violated the constitution. Although sentences of up to five years imprisonment under…