The High Court of Barbados has decriminalized gay sex. Two anti-LGBT laws in the Caribbean Island nation have been repealed. Although these laws were almost never put into practice, they were seen as a symbol of inequality for the queer community.
Barbados’ top court strikes down laws that criminalize gay sex https://t.co/aBHsBSBwrQ
— The Guardian (@guardian) December 13, 2022
The two laws that were repealed came from English colonization. One of these laws stated men found guilty of engaging in consensual gay sex could be put behind bars for life. The other law stated “unnatural offenses” for both men and women could result in ten years in prison with hard labor. These old laws have no place in the modernized country as the court deemed them unnecessary.
Téa Braun, the chief executive of Human Dignity Trust, a human rights organization, said the court's ruling was part of "tidal waves" that swept through the Caribbean nations in favor of LGBTQ+ communities. Barbados is the third Caribbean nation to decriminalize gay sex this year.
Braun stated, "The striking down of the laws reverses that and overnight tells the entire society that this is consensual contact and that what people choose to do with their private relationships is not the business of the law."
She added, "The striking down of these laws doesn't solve all problems, of course," and "The dismantling of these laws is the first major step, but not the last step."
A court has struck down #Barbados' "buggery" & "serious indecency" laws thereby decriminalizing gay sex.
These laws are relics of British colonial law and are still on the books in 6 countries in the region. They violate a host of human rights: https://t.co/HurkRM1EBd [1/5] pic.twitter.com/Yu7w4r0jcv— Cristian González Cabrera (@cristianfergo) December 13, 2022
The executive director of the Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality, Inc (ECADE), Kenita Placide, said, "We really take this win as a stepping stone to ensuring access to justice,"
Eastern Caribbean Alliance for Diversity and Equality is one of the pro-LGBTQ+ organizations that supported two LGBTQ activists who filed a lawsuit against these unjust laws.
A court for Saint Kitts and Nevis wrote off two anti-queer laws in August; these laws were a part of the Offenses Against the Person Act originating from when England colonized the nation. The same court also decriminalized sodomy laws in Antigua and Barbuda this summer.
In the landmark decision, Judge Trevor Ward stated, "The absolute nature of the prohibition created by sections 56 and 57 are not reasonably justified in a democratic society in circumstances where they proscribe sexual acts between consenting adults in private, which involve no element of public conduct or harm to, or sexual acts, with minors."
