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United Kingdom·Human Rights·Democracy

UK judges hear appeal over Trinidad and Tobago's colonial-era anti-gay law

Thursday, 9 July 2026, 06:15 · 1 min read

The London-based Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) — the highest court of appeal for several Commonwealth nations, staffed by the same judges as the UK Supreme Court — has begun hearing arguments over whether Trinidad and Tobago's court of appeal was right to overturn a landmark 2018 ruling that struck down the country's colonial-era criminalisation of consensual sex between men. The case was originally brought by LGBTQ+ activist Jason Jones, who successfully challenged the 1925 "buggery law" on constitutional grounds, only for that ruling to be quashed by a higher domestic court following intervention by the attorney general. A decision from the JCPC is expected within three to six months and is being closely watched across the Caribbean, where similar laws remain on the books in Jamaica, Guyana, Grenada, and St Vincent and the Grenadines — all former British colonies whose anti-homosexuality statutes were repealed in Britain itself decades ago.

Sources
The GuardianUK judges begin hearing appeal over Trinidad and Tobago anti-gay law ↗︎
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